‘MY FAMILY WERE LOCKED IN HOSPITAL ROOM AMID VIRUS SCARE’

Man claims they had to bang on door to get attention of nurse as boy spewed on floor

ADAD has claimed he and his young family were locked in a room during a coronavirus scare at a Glasgow hospital. The man, who asked not to be named, said he, his wife and baby went to the GP out-of-hours service at Stobhill Hospital on Sunday morning around 10.30am.

After around an hour of waiting, a nurse appeared and asked everyone in the clinic to follow her.

The dad to an eight-month-old baby says all patients from the out-of-hours waiting room were taken to a room at the other end of the hospital and locked in – without being told why.

A NHS spokesman disputed that the door was locked and said it was operated by using a pass, as is standard.

The man, though, insists patients were unable to get out and claims there was no communication as to what was happening.

He said: “We got there about 10.30am and it was packed, there were people standing up against the walls so we thought we were in for a really long wait.

“About 11.30am a nurse came in and said, ‘Everybody in here has to follow me,’ then they took us into another room and locked the door.

“We only realised that the door was locked when somebody tried to get out to find a nurse because there was a young boy who was spewing on the floor. They eventually managed to get a nurse to come by banging on the door.”

The man, who said he was especially concerned as his wife has asthma, said this was when it became clear what was going on.

He added: “The nurse came in and said it was all fine now because, ‘We’ve put him in isolation now,’ and everyone was like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“She said they were just cleaning up the A&E department but no one had said anything about that.

“People were panicking a bit and running over to the hand sanitiser stations and to the toilets to wash their hands.

“We were told somebody would be through to talk to us as a man had presented with coronavirus symptoms after being told by NHS24 to come to the hospital.

“But they should have never been told that.

“There was a three-week-old baby in the waiting area and a four or five-month-old as well as older kids.

“And then you have this worry because you don’t know if you’ve been in contact with the guy, you don’t know if you’ve sat on the same seat that he’s sat on.”

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the “Covid-19 protocol” was activated on Sunday.

He said: “We have well-rehearsed protocols in place for staff to manage patients displaying symptoms of coronavirus and we continue to work closely with the Chief Medical Officer, Health Protection Scotland, independent experts and follow advice from the World Health Organisation, to ensure correct procedures are followed.

“We can confirm on Sunday our Covid-19 protocol was activated as a precaution and appropriate steps were taken at our GP out-of-hours service at Stobhill.”

He added that the door to the