A woman has branded Medway Maritime a disgrace after doctors put her father on an end-of-life care pathway and he survived.

Ivan Dollimore, from the Isle of Sheppey, went into the hospital on July 17 because of problems with blood-sugar levels.

The diabetic was put on a drip and appeared to recover.

However, after two weeks on a ward and a day before he was due to return home, his health took a turn for the worse and his daughter Karen Handebeaux was told he was suffering from a urinary tract infection.

The next day, Mrs Handebeaux and her husband Robert met a consultant and were told her father’s kidneys were failing and he had two to four hours to live.

The family agreed that non-essential treatment should be withdrawn from the 87-year-old, with him given morphine and sedatives as pain relief.

Mrs Handebeaux said: “A consultant took me into an office with a doctor and nurse.

“The consultant explained to me that they couldn’t get his blood pressure level, his kidneys were failing, he was weak and frail, and he said, ‘I think we should let him go’.”

However, 10 hours after being put on the care pathway, Mr Dollimore, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, was still alive and his health showed no signs of worsening.

For the following few days his distraught family maintained a bedside vigil.

"I was shocked. When I got there, he was begging for a drink..." - Karen Handebeaux

However, on August 10, three days after being told he would pass away, Mrs Handebeaux called the hospital to check on his condition.

She was told by nurses that an hour earlier, Mr Dollimore, of First Avenue, Eastchurch, had sat up in bed and asked for a glass of water and a sweet.

The 59-year-old immediately rushed to hospital where she found her father weak but otherwise OK.

She said: “I was shocked. When I got there, he was begging for a drink, he was saying, ‘please Karen, please get me a drink’. But they wouldn’t give him one until he had a swallow test.

“It’s a disgrace. There should be some paperwork that you look at explaining exactly what they do – taking away medication, food.

“It could happen to your parents.”

She is now calling for more tests to be done on patients before the decision is made to place them on an end of life care pathway.

Mrs Handebeaux says she thinks family members should sign documentation that explains exactly what the pathway entails.

The Medway Foundation Trust declined to comment, citing patient confidentiality.

It suggested the family contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service to address their concerns.