Dumped for days in a hospital corridor
hoW sad that 93-year-old former nurse Enid Stevens was left on a trolley in a hospital corridor for six days (Mail). What is even worse is that this is not an isolated case. My 50-year-old daughter, who is a nurse and married with two teenage children, went to leeds General Infirmary A&E at midnight last week. Nineteen hours later, after a CT scan, she was given a bed on a ward. She was told she had to remain in hospital as she required an MRI scan. We were told she’d have this the following day, but it did not happen. Then they decided they needed her bed for another patient and she was transferred to the corridor. From Sunday to Tuesday, when she finally had the MRI scan, my daughter had no privacy except for a small screen. The bed was parked near the nurses’ station with staff chatting all night, keeping her awake, and constant traffic passing during the day. Not only were there constant bright lights, but every time a patient pressed their call button in the ward — which happened day and night — it triggered an alarm above her head. She says the doctors, nurses and care assistants did their best to make her as comfortable as possible. Everyone apologised that she had to sleep in a corridor, but it seemed to be beyond them to do anything about it. Saying sorry is easy to do, but taking action is much harder. Ironically, a sign on the wall next to my daughter’s bed stated: ‘All hospital corridors . . . must be kept free of obstructions.’ My daughter was given a leaflet from the hospital chief executive Julian hartley apologising for having to use corridors and saying this would occur for only ‘a short and temporary period’. It is a disgraceful state of affairs where a woman had to suffer the degradation of being on view to all and sundry without any privacy. The scan showed she has fluid on the brain and migraine, caused by stress.
DAVID STEVENS, Leeds. No oNE should have to endure the poor treatment Enid Stevens received at St James’s hospital in leeds. It is utterly shameful. The reason for this is bed blocking because patients can’t be discharged safely due to a lack of recuperation facilities for those who require looking after, not nursing. We are facing a care catastrophe because convalescence homes have been systematically closed on the grounds of saving money. The Enid Stevenses of this country deserve better.
RICHARD A. JACOB, Southampton. I CRIED when I read about Mrs Stevens’s appalling treatment. I know there are problems with cash and staffing, but I can’t understand how a ward manager could have gone off duty leaving this lady in this situation. oh, come back Sister and Matron! S. DRAPER, Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex.