Vicki Fox has criticised Albury Wodonga Health’s lack of communication before and after her father, David Pond, of Tallangatta, died last month.

Albury Wodonga Health said it did not discuss patients and so would not comment, but outlined possible avenues if Mrs Fox wished to make a formal complaint.

Mrs Fox said she had been listed as her father’s emergency contact for the past seven years and a staff member told her later those details were on his file.

So she was shocked when a friend of her father phoned on April 4 to say Mr Pond had died the previous day and she later learned he had been taken to hospital two days earlier.

“I rang Albury hospital to locate my father’s body as I had no idea where he was,” Mrs Fox said.

“I was told on the phone to ring the next day as there was nobody to help me.

“I rang the next morning and spoke to the social worker, who informed me my dad’s body was in the morgue.”

Mrs Fox said her questions about why she hadn’t been notified earlier had not been properly addressed by hospital staff.

“If they’d looked on the computer, they would have found my name,” she said.

“I can tell you right now, not one of them ever rang me back. It would take one person two minutes to make a phone call.

“I just don’t want it to happen to somebody else.”

Mrs Fox believed a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing related to guardianship then delayed arrangements for her father’s cremation, with the State Trustees also becoming involved.

“All I know is Dad’s body stayed in the morgue for a month,” she said. 

A State Trustees spokeswoman said Mr Pond was not a client of State Trustees in Victoria.

“We have contacted VCAT, who has advised no record of Mr David Pond,” she said.

Mrs Fox said her father had suffered from emphysema for some time.

“Dad was a sick man … but the fact is, how sad that my dad (may have) died alone,” she said.

“Knowing he’s dying and, ‘Where’s my family?’

“Not being able to say goodbye.”