And he said if the shaving had occurred outside of the hospital, the perpetrator could have faced a jail sentence. Ian Perkin said: “In policing terms, removing somebody’s moustache against their will is assault. If I did that to somebody at a bus stop, I’d probably get six months.” Ken Perkin was admitted to hospital in February following a fall at his home – a granny annex built on to the side of his son’s house in Worcester Park.
He was taken first to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, before being transferred to Kingston two weeks later. Although he was meant to be moved to Tolworth Hospital almost immediately, he spent five weeks in Kingston due to several hospital acquired infections, Mr Perkin said. It was there, on April 3, that Ian visited his father to find his moustache – which he had worn since he was sergeant major in the Army almost 70 years ago – had been removed. But after raising concerns with the ward matron, Mr Perkin claims his father was threatened by a nurse unhappy with the complaint.
Ian Perkin said: “He told me a nurse said ‘You are lucky we are still caring for you after your son complained about us.’ You hear the Health Secretary saying it is important elderly patients are treated with dignity and respect. Well that definitely is not the case at Kingston.” A spokeswoman for Kingston Hospital NHS Trust said: “We want all of our patients to have a good experience and were sorry to learn the Perkin family were not happy with our care. We are looking into their complaint and will be providing a full response to Mr Perkin’s son.”
1 comment:
My Dad used to tell the story of when he was in the army, stationed in (West) Germany ca. 1950. His outfit had some British liaison officer with an impeccably-groomed handlebar of which this officer was annoyingly proud. One evening his buddies got this guy drunk and shaved off exactly HALF of the mustache (don't recall if it was the right half or left half).
Lurker111
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