Stroke sufferer ‘was told she would have to spend night on trolley’
THE family of a blind 82year-old woman with dementia who suffered a suspected stroke were told she would have to spend the night on a trolley if she came to hospital.
Nora Harrington had suffered a suspected transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini-stroke, and temporarily lost the use of her legs in the incident.
She had also shown other classic symptoms of a stroke, including that her face had fallen to one side and that she couldn’t raise both arms.
But the frail pensioner had to wait nearly an hour for the ambulance to get to her, despite her living just 15 minutes’ travel away from her nearest hospital.
When the paramedics arrived and stabilised her, they called ahead to Bantry Hospital. According to the Harringtons, hospital staff told the crew they could only offer Mrs Harrington a trolley for that night.
Earlier that day on Wednesday, November 15, according to the INMO Trolley Watch figures, there had been six patients on trolleys at the hospital and by 8am the following day there were ten.
Mrs Harrington’s shocked family did not want her to spend the night on a trolley, so they kept her at home and monitored her themselves overnight.
The following morning, they took her to see her GP, and he told them that she possibly suffered a TIA, or a mini-stroke.
TIAs happen when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or reduced, often by a blood clot, and are a serious warning sign that a stroke may happen in the future.
With a full-on stroke, the blood flow stays blocked, and the brain has permanent damage.
Last night, Mrs Harrington’s shocked son Jerry, from Bantry, Co. Cork, said: ‘You couldn’t make this up. How has our health service ended up being a place that can only offer a trolley to an 82-year-old woman who suffers from dementia and is blind?
‘I really couldn’t believe it when we were told that is all the hospital was prepared to offer her.’
He added: ‘I cannot fault the care my mother received from the paramedics. It’s not their fault they had to come from so far away, and when they arrived, they were brilliant.’
A spokesperson for the National Council for the Blind of Ireland said last night: ‘Hospital settings can be difficult for people with sight loss, as it’s an unfamiliar environment and makes it difficult for people to remain independent. Being on a trolley is even more difficult for someone with sight loss as they would find it very difficult to orientate themselves in their surroundings.’ A spokesperson for Bantry General Hospital said it doesn’t comment on individual cases, but added: ‘Bantry General Hospital has a maximum capacity of 63 inpatient beds.
‘The management regrets the fact that any patient had to spend time on a trolley due the unavailability of an inpatient bed.’
Last Wednesday’s incident is the latest in a series of health service setbacks for the Harrington family.
Jerry’s 90-year-old father John Patrick had to endure a 1,000km round trip to Belfast from his home in Bantry to save his eyesight after being told he’d have to wait four years to have the operation through the HSE.
‘You couldn’t make this up’ ‘The paramedics were brilliant’