LEFT IN A STORE ROOM
Widow’s anguish as dying husband was taken off his ward
A DYING man was made to sleep in a hospital storeroom without even a bell to alert staff, claims his widow.
John Gibbs had been admitted to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, suffering from dementia, heart failure, chronic kidney disease and diabetes after 20 years of being cared for at home by his wife Mavis.
Following the 79-year-old’s death on the Glyder Ward, Mrs Gibbs complained to the Public Services Ombudsman about his treatment in the preceding weeks.
At the end of his life, the former HGV driver was too weak to even speak, but Mrs Gibbs claims some staff were “desperate” to move him into a hospice or nursing home.
Two weeks before his death in March last year, Mrs Gibbs says she found her husband had been moved from the general ward to what she described as a “storeroom”.
The 81-year-old said: “In regards to his general care, I have no complaints about the doctors and nurses and thought they were very good.
“But when visiting him one day, I was shocked to find he’d been moved from the shared open ward to what I could only call a storeroom of some sort.
“What concerned me most of all was that, while he was on the general ward, the other patients were happy to help in any way if they could see he was in discomfort.
“But in that room, where he’d been left all alone overnight, unable to speak, with staff not even providing him with a bell, he had no way of letting anyone know if he needed help.”
Mr Gibbs was moved back onto the ward after his wife complained to staff, but she says the hospital’s discharge coordinators tried to move him to a hospice or nursing home despite his state.
“It was plain to anyone that he was much too weak to cope with a move at that stage,” she said. “But some of the staff seemed determined to move him out, even though I was adamant he was in no fit state.”
In her complaint to the Ombudsman, Mrs Gibbs (right) said a discharge coordinator continued to offer him a place at a nursing home in Rhyl, 40 miles from her home in Dwyran, Anglesey.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board claims staff merely offered her a list of hospices and nursing homes in Anglesey, Gwynedd and Conwy.
However, they did admit that a discharge coordinator approached Mrs Gibbs with a map of an Anglesey nursing home, when it had already been established that her husband was too unwel.l t
In the board’s response to Mrs Gibbs’ complaint, director of corporate services Chris Wright said: “It is recognised that it was unfortunate that the discharge coordinator had approached Mrs Gibbs with the map when it was evident Mr Gibbs was too unwell.
“This has been addressed to the staff member who has reflected and learnt from this experience and would like to apologise for any distress she may have caused Mrs Gibbs.”
He added: “I would like to sincerely apologise for the distress caused to Mrs Gibbs in the last days of her husband’s life. It is the health board’s opinion that the care and service Mrs Gibbs received fell below the standard reasonably expected, which amounts to a breach of duty of care.”