OAP Jeanette’s 8-hour wait IN ambulance
Pensioner blasts ‘third world’ hospital ordeal after ‘bug’ turns out to be E Coli
A TRAUMATISED patient has received an apology from NHS bosses after telling of her “horrendous” experiences in a hospital she described as worse than the “third world”.
Jeanette Carden spent more than eight hours waiting outside Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital in the back of an ambulance before she was admitted.
But once inside, she faced a catalogue of issues, including being the lone female patient in a ward with five men. The 68-year-old also contracted E Coli during her stay.
Jeanette, who suffers from chest condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, said: “It really was horrendous. I would expect better in the third world.”
Her ordeal began on September 9, when she was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Jeanette, from the town’s Gallowhill, was kept in hospital for several days before being moved to ward 27, where she was dismayed to find none of the other patients were female.
Jeanette said: “I thought I was getting sent home but I was shifted, they tested me for Covid and it came back clear.
“They shifted me up to ward 27, where they put me on a ward with five men.
“I told the nurse, ‘I’m not very happy with this. I’m supposed to share a toilet with five men?’
“She said, ‘I can get you a commode and we can pull the curtain round.’
“I didn’t want to sit on the ward and use a commode with five men around.
It’s about having a bit of respect for me and for them.”
Jeanette also told how a patient she had been in the previous ward with passed away on ward 27, adding: “They brought his family in, who were grieving.
“He passed away around 3am and they didn’t take him away until 9am. It was really upsetting.
“I was lying in bed listening to the family grieving. I thought, ‘That’s not right’, surely he should have been taken to a private room.”
The OAP alleges clinicians told her she “had a bug” during her stay but that she only realised she had contracted troublesome stomach bacteria E Coli when she read her discharge notes at home. Jeanette, who finally got out last week, said she had been left “dreading the next time” she has to be admitted to hospital.
She added: “The next time, I need to phone an ambulance, I am asking them to take me to the Southern General.”
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The RAH, alongside all of our acute sites, is facing significant challenges with more patients than usual being admitted into our emergency departments.
“We strive to ensure all our patients are treated in a clean, comfortable environment and our aim is always to deliver safe, effective person centred care to all individuals.”