Patient in intensive care was left with maggots onher face
A DAUGHTER has told of her horror at discovering maggots on her sick mother’s face while visiting her in an intensive care unit.
Nyree Ellison Anjos spotted the fly larvae near her mother’s feeding tube in the ward at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
Christine Ellison died two days later of an unrelated illness in July this year.
Mrs Ellison Anjos, from Robinswood, Gloucester, said she had chosen to speak out against the hospital now after hearing of a similar incident when one of its treatment rooms had to be fumigated.
She said: ‘We saw there was a fly flying around there.
‘ Everyone was making it go away, even the staff in the hospital.
‘ The next day I went there and there was this yellow thing by her tube and I thought that it didn’t look right.
‘ She was unconscious but kept twitching her nose and fiddling with it and we could see it was bothering her. I had a close look and could see little maggots moving in there.
‘ I called the nurse over and she couldn’t believe it was happening.
‘I spotted it or they wouldn’t have noticed.’
She added: ‘ It was heartbreaking to see it. I told the nurses never to tell my mother what had happened.
‘ It’s in my memory to this day and no kind of apology will get it out.’ A s p o k e s m a n f o r t h e Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘We would like to offer our sincere apologies to the family of Mrs Ellison for any distress caused by this incident.
‘ We can confirm that a very small number of maggots, each the size of a pinhead, were found.
‘The incident was incredibly rare and we took immediate steps to prevent it from happening again.’
The spokesman went on: ‘ As a Foundation Trust we have always been commended for our high standards of cleanliness and hygiene and we continue to take any incident such as this extremely seriously.
‘However, it is important to remember that this particular incident is an isolated and rare occurrence and at no time was Mrs Ellison’s treatment compromised.’
Mrs Ellison Anjos said that at the time of the incident the nurses had told her they would have to call in someone to deal with the problem, as they were no longer allowed to use fly sprays on the wards.
She said the apology was only sufficient if the hospital took steps to stop it happening again.
The hospital was criticised in October this year, however, after one of its treatment rooms had to be fumigated because maggots were found feeding on a discarded sandwich. A corridor and room at the hospital had to be sealed off after the discovery on October 25.
The spokesman said patient safety was not compromised by the maggots found in the treatment room, adding: ‘This incident is extremely rare and the Trust has been identified as good to excellent for cleanliness with its hospitals.’
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb, referring to the incident involving Mrs Ellison, said: ‘ Any such occurrence is distressing.
‘ The hospital management has some serious explaining to do.’ Mr Webb, the MP for the Northavon constituency, added: ‘ This must have been profoundly distressing for the family involved and action must be taken.’
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