Yahoo News Gran left in 'warzone' hospital corridor for 18 hours with broken neck
A hospital had been likened to a 'warzone' after an elderly woman spent 18 'hellish' hours in a cold corridor after suffering a broken neck. Yvonne Jones had hoped to be transferred to the Royal Stoke University Hospital but was instead left languishing at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
The 82-year-old had been rushed to hospital on Wednesday, June 5, after her daughter, Michele Bradford, became concerned following a call with her.
Michele explained: "She'd hit her head and had dragged herself back to the house after recovering consciousness. I was very concerned but she's very stoic and she assured me she was alright. However her voice sounded different and I couldn't settle - it didn't feel right. So I drove to her house anyway. I found her sat in a chair, stiff as a board."
Despite being in considerable pain, the grandmother from Pantymwyn near Mold, Flintshire, was reportedly given only two Co-codamol tablets during an 11-hour period before finally being sent for scans.
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The results of a CT scan later showed that Mrs Jones had sustained two breaks in her neck, along with a third previously undiagnosed fracture dating back to when she was 14 years old.
During their wait at the hospital, which Michele likened to a 'war zone', she claimed patients were left unattended on trolleys and stretchers, some in agony or in desperate need of the toilet.
Michele added: "As mum was lying on her back, forced to stare at the ceiling, she couldn't see any of this. But she could hear all the shouting and wailing."
Betsi Cadwaladr, the North Wales health board, has issued an apology to the patient and her daughter. Deputy medical director Dr Jim McGuigan stated patients are always treated based on clinical need, reports North Wales Live. This can result in long waits if more critical cases arrive in Emergency Departments (ED) at the same time.
Before heading to the hospital, Michele, from Holyhead, Anglesey, checked the estimated waiting time at Wrexham Maleor's A&E online. It showed two hours 35 minutes, so she was hopeful of quick treatment.
She continued: "When we arrived at 9.30pm, it was chaos in there. It was horrific more than 100 people were waiting in A&E."
After waiting for an hour and a half, Mrs Jones was triaged. Michele said: "The nurse was lovely she said mum's neck needed to be stablised straight away. So she was put on a trolley and wheeled to the A&E corridor. But her neck wasn't stabilised."
At 11.25pm, they were told they faced a nine-hour wait to see a doctor. They weren't alone, as Michele said another elderly lady with broken ribs was on a stretcher nearby, and others patients joined them during the night.
She continued: "Mum was in agony, any slight movement caused her significant pain. I asked three times if pain relief was available, and eventually mum was given two Co-codomol. She was desperate to go to the toilet, worried she would wet herself, but there was no help.
"A homeless woman on a drip was shouting to go to the loo. All the while there was a constant stream of people going past in the narrow corridor. It was hell on earth. What got me was seeing five police officers bringing in a young man with a cut head. As the officers were waited outside, he was treated while an 82-year-old woman lay in a corridor with a broken neck.
"A woman caring for her mother took off her coat and revealed herself as a nurse. She told us the standard of care was totally unacceptable and that my mother was being neglected."
Michele explained her mum was finally seen by a medical professional just before 9am on Thursday, June 6. A CT scan was organised and by 11.30am it was discovered Mrs Jones had suffered two breaks in her neck.
Michele said: "They also found an old neck fracture. Mum realised it was from a swimming incident when she was 14 when she dived into a pool. It had never been diagnosed and she had never complained, which is typical of that generation."
Mrs Jones was finally given morphine and placed back in the corridor with a neck brace. She mentioned that they sought a transfer to Royal Stoke's trauma unit, which then requested a more detailed MRI scan.
Michele, who had been awake for 23 hours, managed to snatch an hour of sleep in her car outside the hospital. Her frustration with what she described as a "total failure of basic medical care" led her to vent on social media.
The situation sparked a flurry of responses, with many individuals sharing their own harrowing experiences ranging from excruciating waits for ambulances and hospital treatment to allegations of misdiagnosis.
In the end, Mrs Jones was not transferred to Stoke-on-Trent. On the afternoon of Monday, June 10, Michele revealed that her mother was discharged and instructed to return in three months. This period was shortened to two weeks with two follow-up appointments after the family protested that the initial timeframe was too lengthy.
Dr Jim McGuigan, Betsi's deputy executive medical director, expressed his regret over the incident, stating: "We sincerely apologise for this patient's experience and that of her daughter. I want to assure the public we treat patients in order of clinical need, not by order of how long they have been waiting. This means we treat the sickest at any given moment and we continually reassess clinical need as more patients arrive."
He encouraged patients who had concerns about their care to reach out to the health board's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). He emphasised that feedback is crucial for enhancing services. PALS can be reached on 03000 851234 or via email at BCU. PALS@wales.nhs.uk.
Dr McGuigan added: "The delays within our EDs are symptomatic of two things, in the main. Firstly, we are seeing far more people arriving with higher acuity (severity), despite primary care seeing increasing numbers of patients. This means we are seeing more people with more serious conditions since the Covid pandemic.
"Secondly, we continue to have significant issues with safely discharging people who we consider to be medically fit to leave our hospitals. This means we often do not have enough free beds within the main hospital to allow us to move those patients who need one, out of ED. This adds to the pressure on ED staff and contributes to why you will often see patients waiting in corridors or cubicles at busy times."
"There are a number of complex factors which cause these delayed discharges. One of them is a lack of resource and capacity within the social care sector. We are continually looking at ways to help alleviate capacity issues, along with our local authority partners, the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust and the third sector, so we can reduce waiting times and free up ambulances to work within our communities.
"Primary care and the community nursing teams do vital work with local authorities and private care providers, so patients can leave hospital safely. Community teams also provide some of that interim care so that hospitals can discharge patients who are medically fit. We face complex issues in our hospitals and our communities and ED is a symptom of the pressures we face, not the cause."
