After a brief sleep I woke at 9am to begin a morning of 'phone calls. I won't go into these in detail, but it became apparent that a hospice bed was not available for Isobel today. Later in the day it was learned (from the nurse caring for Isobel at the QE Hospital) that there had been a hospice bed available briefly but it had been taken by an even more urgent case. The only people I could not reach in my sequence of 'phone calls was the District Nurses whose contact number was permanently engaged.

In the middle of the morning a District Nurse arrived to see Isobel. Although Euan had told other District Nurses last night that his mother was in hospital, the news had not filtered through at ground level.

Iona came over in the late morning. The pharmacist at QE Hospital phoned with a query regarding Isobel's medication and she confirmed that Isobel was in a stable condition and had been examined again by a doctor.

Jon's work team had completed their quota early and were released an hour or so before their usual finish time. Jon picked up Iona and went onto the hospital. They were under strict instructions not to stay for too long and to go out to the cinema in the evening in order to relax Iona. Iona 'phoned from the hospital, rather agitated because her mother was lying on the floor of her single bed room after "escaping" from the hospital bed. It was learned that at one stage she had crawled out of the room on hands and knees covered in excrement. After some discussion it was apparent that her usual antipathy to hospital beds had manifested itself again and the hospital was probably dealing with it in the best way. Jon rather gallantly investigated the most soiled garments and placed them in a position where the smell was taken out of the room.

After grabbing an hours sleep and doing some shopping I went into the hospital in the evening. Isobel was still on a mattress on the floor. I fed her the final part of her evening meal, a large helping of some sort of fruit purée. Isobel confirmed she would not sleep in the hospital bed, so she was better off on the floor. Isobel was very relaxed and calm. Isobel and the room had been cleaned up. She was able to converse fairly sensibly in short sentences. The nurse tasked with looking after Isobel during the night said that the hospital had not been able to locate their low bed (a type of bed discussed with the representative of the Peter Gidney Centre, the mattress can be lowered to floor level in order to minimise the risk of falling) but had placed the mattress on the floor as the next best thing - this is without doubt true. The nurse was concerned about Isobel's fluid intake and over the course of half an hour I got her to drink a beaker of orange squash, a small container of apple juice that had come with dinner and a mug of tea. The nurse supplied the contact number of the Macmillan nurse who was trying to sort out the transfer, I will 'phone her in the morning and make sure that she is aware of Isobel's full history and contact details for other parties interested. Isobel confirmed she wanted nothing more to eat or drink and went to sleep at about half past nine. I only stayed about ten minutes after she had gone to sleep.