After everything I've read on here and in the press, I would never, ever leave a loved one alone in hospital for any extended time, especially if they were critically ill. And I would expect to be the one feeding them, changing them, bathing them and administering medication. I don't know what can be done about the NHS, but it surely isn't delivering what it should in terms of care. I don't like what the Tories are doing to it, but this "everything free for everyone, all the time" system, as lovely as the ideal is, just isn't working.