Dementia patient placed in bed 300 miles from home
Docs send Cornwall grandad to Northampton
A DEMENTIA sufferer aged 89 has been moved 300 miles away from home for treatment due to a lack of specialist care beds.
Derek Jewson, who also has chronic heart disease, was transferred from Cornwall to hospital in Northampton. The widower’s family claim he was too frail for the journey, and had to be admitted to A&E shortly after arriving.
Since the grandad of five moved a week ago, relatives have only been able to make the 600-mile, 10-hour round trip once. His son Kurt, 47, said: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would be moved out of Cornwall. Why was he transferred there?
“He’s physically frail and was not strong enough to make the journey.”
Kurt says his father – a former Metropolitan Police motorcycle rider and lighthouse keeper from Porthleven, Cornwall – had been taken to A&E in Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro before he was moved. Dad-oftwo Kurt, of Constantine, Cornwall, said: “He has chronic heart disease.
“He has water retention in his lungs and is struggling to breathe. Why did they pressure him to travel 300 miles within 24 hours of being in A&E? He needs specialist nursing care.
“He arrived in Northampton and complained of pains so was taken to A&E. We were told to expect the worst, but he seems to have rallied.
“I have to look after the kids, but he’s stuck up there in a hospital bed.”
The Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust said it is “committed to providing care for people in Cornwall whenever it is safe to do so. Unfortunately, on this occasion [we] had to find a bed outside Cornwall.
“We are very sorry for the additional stress this has placed on the family. We will move the gentleman back to Cornwall as soon as possible.”
He wasn’t strong enough for the trip. I have kids to look after, it’s hard to visit KURT JEWSON ON HIS DAD BEING MOVED FROM CORNWALL