Terrible care of terminally ill patient. My father had cancer and had been receiving good care from the oncology department, until he became ill at home. We called the emergency telephone number at 9am, the message says you will receive a call back within an hour. No return call arrived. We called the general oncology number/ward and were advised we had to go through the emergency line, "try again" repeatedly. We did, every hour until 2pm when I finally phoned for an ambulance as his health rapidly deteriorated. When the ambulance arrived at 4pm he was taken into the emergency department at the LRI. He was seriously ill by this stage with pneumonia, in a lot of pain and distress. His later died. This terrible time for any family was made for more distressful, traumatic and painful by the lack of care. He didn't need to and shouldn't have died in so much discomfort and distress. We have to live with the memory that a wonderful, hard working, kind man, who fought so hard, died this way.