‘PENSIONER LEFT DYING IN AGONY IN A&E’
THE grieving family of a Greenock pensioner who spent his life campaigning for his community say he was needlessly left to die in agony in hospital.
John Donaghey, 75, inset, was rushed to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra after he became seriously unwell at home and then slipped in the bath.
His loved ones say he was left in agonising pain in a cubicle in the final hours of his life, lying on a makeshift A&E bed in desperate need of morphine. His granddaughter Claire, who works as a home carer, pictured left with her mum Angela, said: “I will never get those images out of my head.”
THE grieving family of a Greenock pensioner who spent his life campaigning for his community say he was needlessly left to die in agony in hospital.
Seventy-five-year-old John Donaghey, from Branchton, was rushed to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra after he fell seriously unwell at home and then slipped in the bath.
His loved ones are devastated at the way he was treated at A&E there and have made an official complaint.
They say the popular grandfather, who helped set up Branchton Community Centre, was left in agonising pain in a cubicle in the final hours of his life, lying on a makeshift bed in desperate need of morphine.
His granddaughter Claire, who works as home carer, said:
“My grandad was left dying in absolute agony in A&E, with no proper pain relief.
“I was with him in A&E with my sister, begging the doctors to help.
“When I said they needed to shift him to a better position they ignored me.
“He was all twisted in pain but they ordered us out of the hospital.
“The doctor in charge kept telling me to let her do her job, but she wasn’t doing it.
“All my grandad had was paracetamol, when he needed morphine.
“They left him there in that bed all night in A&E.
“Eventually he was moved to a ward the next day but by that time it was too late.
“He had been unwell with a bug and when he was trying to clean up he fell in the bath.
“We had to wait two hours for an ambulance and on the way the paramedics could see how serious it was.
“They were calling in to get him straight in to a ward and bypassed, but he was taken in to the A&E.”
After the family were sent out of the hospital, they were told the next day that John was at the end of his life.
Claire added: “I am a home carer, so I know what palliative care should look like, and that was not it. “They would have known by his blood count that he was not going to make it, so he should have been made comfortable and given morphine. “I will never get those images out of my head, that is the memory that will stay with us.
“My grandad would have done anything for anyone, and to think he was treated like that is so painful.” John, a retired landscape gardener, had campaigned tirelessly for facilities in his neighbourhood but also championed other causes, including the fight to stop cuts at Inverclyde Royal.
His family say he should never have had to suffer such an ordeal in his final days. Daughter Angela, 49, of Branchton Road, said: “I am his next of kin and when I phoned the next morning I was told he was fine. “But someone else phoned my daughter, told her my dad was a very sick man and that we had to get there.
“She called me in a panic and we all rushed up, but we should have been with him all night — he shouldn’t have been left alone.
“He was eventually taken up to a ward and they gave him more fluids so that we had more time to be with him before he died.
“The nurse there was furious and called A&E demanding to know why a patient was sent up with no pain relief.
“He even said ‘my apologies if you hear me shout, this is not the first time’.
“I just feel we have to speak out about this because I don’t want it to happen to another family.”
John, dad to Angela and son Sean, 40, died on October 15, only 13 hours after he’d finally been moved to a ward.
Claire and her twin sister Kayleigh had rushed to their grandad’s house in Kirkwall Road on October 13 when they realised he was ill and phoned the ambulance.
After going to RAH that night John remained in casualty until 4pm the next day.
Claire, 28, said: “We don’t even know why he was taken to Paisley and not IRH.”
The family have now lodged a full complaint with the health board.
A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde said: “We would like to extend our sympathies to the family of Mr Donaghey for their loss.
“The circumstances of the case will be fully investigated via the complaints process.”