Pensioner's 36-hour stint on hospital trolley 'like the seventh circle of hell'
A pensioner spent 36 hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor in scenes his daughter described as “like the seventh circle of hell.”
Brian Myerscough, 80, who has vascular dementia, was taken to A&E by ambulance after a fall at home. But a bed on a ward was not found for him for almost two days.
And he was given a laminated identity label to signify he was receiving “corridor care”. His daughter Gail Myerscough, 52, said: “I was just horrified. I have never seen anything like it. Corridors and corridors of people on trolleys. It was awful.
“And I am not blaming the staff, the staff were amazing but they were run off their feet. There is not enough of them. The whole system is breaking down.
“A few months ago the NHS saved my husband’s life, he ended up having open heart surgery and they were just brilliant. You can’t fault the people who work in the system, it is the system which is breaking down.”
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Gail said her father was taken to Blackburn Hospital's A&E department at around 1.30pm last Saturday. The father of two, a retired health and safety manager from Blackburn, Lancashire, was put on a trolley in a corridor and stayed there until the early hours of Monday.
His wife Brenda, 77, had travelled with him in the ambulance and had waited patiently at his side in the corridor until 1am on Sunday when she went home for some much needed rest. Gail, an illustrator from Manchester, said: “Because people are in corridors, there is nowhere to sit with them. She was just hanging around by this trolley so she was shattered.”
On Sunday Gail travelled to Blackburn with her husband Matt, 58, to find her dad still on the trolley. She said: “He was in a hospital gown and my mum had taken him some clothes, so we had to change him, but we had to change him on the corridor. There was no dignity at all.
Brian spent 36 hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor after a fall at Royal Blackburn Hospital“And that sign that was on his trolley, that just normalises what is going on, ‘Corridor Care’, I was horrified by it.” She added: "He had no privacy or dignity and he couldn't sleep because it was so busy and there was nowhere for us to sit.”
Her father was finally placed on a ward in the early hours of Monday. She said: “My dad was shattered. My mum said when he got to the ward he slept all day.”
In a tweet Gail described the scene at the A&E as “like the seventh circle of hell.” Speaking to the Mirror she added: “I’m not moaning about the people who work there, I’m moaning about the government. The NHS has been squeezed dry.
“We spoke to a nurse on Sunday when we got there and she said ‘I’m really sorry, I’m really busy, lots of people have not come in, there is only me here on this section’. I think the NHS is just completely overwhelmed, isn’t it.”
Mr Myerscough was still in hospital yesterday (TUES) where he is being treated for a urine infection, which is thought to have led to his fall. Last week the hospital trust warned wait times at the accident and emergency department are more than 12 hours due to a "steep rise" in people attending.
This is the label that was on Brian's trolleyEast Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) said it was facing one of its busiest winters. And it urged patients to use a GP, pharmacy or NHS 111 if their illness is not life or limb-threatening.
Sharon Gilligan, chief operating officer and deputy chief executive at ELHT, said: "We always see an increase in patients during winter due to seasonal illnesses, which have a significant impact on services, but over the last few weeks there has been a steep rise in people attending our emergency department. It means the department is very crowded and many patients are having to wait over 12 hours which is not what any of us want."
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Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Sharon Gilligan, said: "I want to start by saying how sorry we are to everyone who finds themselves or their family waiting for long periods of time in our urgent or emergency care treatment centres.
"The A&E at Royal Blackburn is one of the busiest emergency departments in England and we are regularly breaking records for the number of people who come in for treatment each week and this includes a lot of very poorly people who need to be admitted for further care.
"Unfortunately when all cubicles are full with patients, it does mean we need to use corridor space. Please be assured that whilst patients are waiting for a bed, they are being cared for, reviewed, assessed and supported by colleagues and we provide hot and cold drinks, soup and sandwiches to them.
"The team could not be doing any more to support patients and their families in an extremely pressured and challenged environment – and I want to thank them for their ongoing hard work and resilience. Everyone at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is working as hard as they can to reduce waiting times.
"Please help us by only attending urgent or emergency centres if you have medical needs that are life threatening – otherwise NHS 111 has clinicians who can immediately guide you to the most appropriate place for help, including GP surgeries and pharmacies.”
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