We had a similar problem when we complained to PALS - the staff turned against the family and we were even told by the consultant that a referral to cardiology had been 'delayed' because we had complained to PALS. When Mum was finally discharged the discharge letter stated that the referral had been made but we subsequently found out that it hadn't! Mum had a prolonged stay in hospital and to quote the social worker, this was because 'discussions' were on going with regards to who was going to pay for Mum's care on discharge. The discharge team actually told me that the purpose of the CHC assessment was funding, so care needs obviously weren't deemed important. The CHC National Framework should be followed by every NHS Trust but from personal experience some seem to 'interpret' this differently.
Mum was placed on the 'discharge to assess' pathway - aimed at speeding up discharge - which meant that the NHS paid for a bed in a care home for the first 28 days after discharge pending a full CHC DST assessment (the check list was completed in the hospital). As they have now assessed your Dad as needing a pathway 3 bed the discharge team/CCG should be taking steps to find a suitable placement. As galling as it is that they deem him not to be eligible for fast-track the priority should be to get your Dad out of the hospital as soon as possible as it is not a good environment for those with dementia - he can then get assessed in the nursing home. Trying to fight the decision not to fast track him now will take a lot of time and energy. We complained to both the CCG and the hospital trust about their failure to follow the CHC National Framework and the matter has been continually delayed by them, with numerous excuses or simply ignoring the complaint, so it has been an endless battle. We found that submitting complaints to PALS whilst Mum was in hospital just made things worse for her. The family were even blamed for Mum not being discharged earlier because we had asked for the CHC checklist to be completed properly
If it's any consolation, the hospital treated Mum as though she was 'end of life' but she has thrived since discharge and is doing really well, almost 2 years after the hospital had 'written her off'. Without going into specifics it was the lack of care that had made her deteriorate in the hospital - the hospital has now conceded that their care fell well below the levels expected. Have you managed to speak to a hospital social worker as suggested earlier in the thread? If you're lucky you may find someone helpful but as a self-funder possibly not. I wish you luck and hopefully things will get moving now that Christmas is over. We did find that the dementia team at the hospital were very supportive (although their advice was ignored by the medical team) so maybe try to speak to them if the hospital has one as battling the system on your own is a lonely position to be in. It seems that there are some hospitals that do things properly and others that don't and if you are dealing with one that doesn't it takes it toll on family/carers so you need to chose which battles to fight.