How do I find out which hospital someone is in?

[skeggysteve]

As the thread title.

Trying to find which hospital my father is in - step mum won't tell me.

I've called the local hospitals and he's not there.

Any idea were to ask next?

TIA

[Silent1]

Perhaps try calling the local ambulance service on their non emergency number if he went in via them and explain you're his son and you're trying to locate him, don't mention your step mum wont tell you though.

[skeggysteve]

My local ambulance service doesn't have a non emergency number just a 9-5 number that isn't being answered.
But one hospital told me that even if I could get in touch with the ambulance service the wouldn't be allowed to tell me.

I'm thinking that either he isn't in a local hospital (might have been away from home) or he isn't in hospital at all.

[rog007]

Is he your NOK or are you his at all? This will add weight to your plight if either. Do you have his mobile number if he has a mobile?
Try all hospitals in area; they should tell you if he is in, but of course over the phone they should not tell you why.
If that fails, and you remain concerned for his welfare, call the Police for advice.
Very good luck!

[skeggysteve]

NeMiSiS said:

If I was in your position, I would be more persuasive with the stepmother.

Step mum has never liked me as I'm part of his 'old life' so being more persuasive just wouldn't work.
Apart for the fact that she is not answering my calls......she maybe old but knows how to read caller display!
But thanks for taking the time to read and post.

rog007 said:

Is he your NOK or are you his at all? This will add weight to your plight if either. Do you have his mobile number if he has a mobile?
Try all hospitals in area; they should tell you if he is in, but of course over the phone they should not tell you why.
If that fails, and you remain concerned for his welfare, call the Police for advice.
Very good luck!

Well I'm his son but I think his next of kin would be my step mum - in hospital terms anyway.

He's 83, has a mobile but it won't be with him.

I've tried all the local hospitals (I must say that they have all been very sympathetic and helpful, telling me to try a.n.other hospital, wishing me good luck etc.) but I've not found him.

If he was in a hospital that I'd called and if they had been told not to tell me he was there I would expect them to say 'sorry I can't give you that information' rather than 'no he's not with us have you tried xyz'.

I'd not thought about contacting the police as I don't see what help they could be but I'll give it some thought.

As I said to NeMiSiS, thanks for taking the time to read and post.

If you ignore the idiots PH is a very good place.
.........................

So to move it on a bit.

I found that not all hospital trust are the same, some switchboards can tell you who is in all their hospitals some can't and some, when asking if a person is with them, immediately put you through to A&E because "they can access a better database".

I was going to talk about a national database but then remembered that the government and IT don't really work well!

[Silent1]

Call the police, explain the situation and report him missing?
They'll then go to your fathers and will either report back with he's safe and well or that he's in a hospital but we can't tell you where, at least then you'll know if she's lying.
I'd offer to help, but any help i can provide is probably not legal.

[Lynch91]

She sounds like a b1tch, so the way I see it, withhold your number, call her and pretend your someone else, eg a GP and you need to update your records of which hospital he is in