A furious family have hit out after an elderly man with dementia was starved five times in preparation for an operation which was cancelled every time.
Great grandfather George Hollinghurst, 81, of Massett Place, Ribbleton, Preston, urgently needs bladder surgery but the operation has been put off five times despite him being in the Royal Preston Hospital for the last 16 days.
Staff now plan to discharge Mr Hollinghurst and re-schedule the operation for early September.
His son Ian Hollinghurst, 50, of Aldwych Drive, Ashton, says he feels his father has been treated disgracefully.
He said: "Each day, they have told my mum that my dad may be operated on and he has been left without food in preparation for the surgery, but each time they have ended up telling him he cannot go down for surgery that day.
"It is very unfair on mum and dad. My dad is finding it very upsetting being in hospital as he doesn't like being separated from my mum."
A Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "Unfortunately, because more urgent cases had to take precedence, his operation has not yet been carried out but is scheduled in September."
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