Hi all,

My dad has stage 4 laryngeal squamous cell metastatic cancer. He's been fighting it for several months but it has now worsened and blocked his airway. He had a tracheostomy put in 3 weeks ago which was very traumatic for him as he had a serious bleed which required emergency surgery. He is now struggling to swallow solid food and is living on fortisip drinks.

He was discharged from hospital last week and the only support he has had at home is one visit from an airway nurse, he lives alone. The hospital told us that they had referred him to the palliative care team and Macmillan but as yet he's not had any contact from them. His discharge was handled appallingly by the hospital and as a family we had no communication or discharge plan shared with us so despite us chasing them (speaking to them was a challenge as the phone system was permanently engaged)

He's a very independent and capable man so he's trying to put a brave face on it all. He's managing the tracheostomy really well so far but obviously his cancer is worsening.... my question is has anyone had a similar experience to this? What can we expect over the coming weeks? I'm really worried that he's not going to get the support he needs, we're chasing doctors etc but it's seeming like he's falling through the cracks.

Any advice or support would be very much appreciated.