Fury as 102-year-old woman suffering from flu 'spends night on a hospital trolley
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A 102-year-old woman spent a night lying on a trolley in a hospital corridor before being sent home the next day because no beds were available, her family have claimed.
Jeannie Wyllie’s was rushed to A&E at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary on Tuesday night suffering from a high temperature, low oxygen count, dehydration, sickness and diarrhoea.
Her outraged son James described the series of events at the hospital as “a horror story”.
He said: “I will never understand how they could chuck her out at that age. It was distressing and upsetting for all of us to see mum being treated like that.”
Mr Wyllie, 72, claims doctors took four hours to decide how to treat his mum.
(Image: Dumfries and Gallloway Standard)
He told the Dumfries and Galloway Standard : “They took bloods and sent my mum for X-rays, put her on a drip and gave her antibiotics.
“At midnight I decided that they had done everything by the book and I could go home, having been told by the nursing staff that they were about to move her to a bed in the combined assessment unit.”
But he said “the nightmare really began” when he phoned the hospital the next morning to ask how his mum was, “only to find out she had spent the whole night on a trolley, not a bed”.
She was later given a bed and diagnosed with having flu.
However, Mr Wyllie says he then received a call from staff at the hospital to say transport had been organised to take his mum back to the nursing home on Wednesday afternoon.
“My immediate reaction to that was ‘how the hell can they justify sending my mum at 102 home?’, bearing in mind what is wrong with her”, he said.
“Then I received another call from the hospital to say that the transport arrangements had been changed and an ambulance had been arranged for Thursday morning to take her home. But then in steps hospital management saying mum had to go to free up the bed and she’d need to leave right away.”
Mr Wyllie claims he then received a call from the nursing home asking if he could go and collect his mum as she was being discharged.
(Image: Dumfries and Gallloway Standard)
He went to the hospital with his son Marcus, to take his mum back to the nursing home.
“It was raining outside and mum didn’t have any clothes with her. She was just wearing a hospital goonie and her slippers,” he said.
“The young nurse on duty provided a couple of blankets to keep her warm on the way back to my car.”
Mr Wyllie is now in the process of making a complaint about his mum’s care to the health board.
He added: “Up until a few months ago my mum lived on her own. She’s old school, takes everything in her stride and doesn’t complain.
“The nursing staff were angels, they couldn’t have been better but the management have a lot to answer for.”
A health board spokesman said: “Consideration is given to the needs of every patient, and an individual approach is taken as to where the best and most appropriate point of care will be.
“This takes place in discussion with patients and their families.
“We cannot address individual cases publicly, but we would encourage anyone who has a concern to get in touch with us.
“The Patient Services Team can be contacted either by dialling 01387 272733, or by emailing PatientServices@nhs.net, and the team are happy to discuss any concerns or complaints.”