THE family of a 93-year-old who suffers with dementia has hit out at care providers in County Durham after the pensioner was left for nearly a day without care, despite her frail nature.
On Saturday, April 1, an ambulance was called for Nancy Walker at around midday after she’d had a serious fall at her County Durham care home.
After waiting for ten hours, Mrs Walker’s family have alleged that the emergency vehicle finally turned up at 10.15pm to tend to the 93-year-old and take her to University Hospital of North Durham.
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However, her medical woes were far from over at this point.
Once Mrs Walker was finally taken to Durham Hospital, her granddaughter, Lorraine Punshon, met her there and the pair had to wait in the corridor for over four hours before the 93-year-old was seen by a doctor and moved to a room at around 3am.
Thankfully, Mrs Walker was able to have x-rays and blood tests, where it was established that she’d suffered three historical fractures on her spine and some light bruising.
Despite the pensioner being discharged from hospital on the Monday (April 3), her granddaughter has now questioned the “unreasonable” level of care that her grandma received.
Mrs Punshon said: “I understand that the hospital must categorise different patients, but we were left waiting for 21 hours in total with the ambulance and hospital waiting times.
“It was a weekend, which I’m sure made it worse but how is it acceptable care that my grandma received?
“My nanna didn’t sleep all night because she suffers with dementia and was extremely confused about what was happening.
“This isn't the first time we have encountered such long waits in Durham Hospital, unfortunately at 93 she is rather frail and has had to visit previously.
“It's utterly appalling that our elderly is treated this way, if I hadn't had stayed with her all night, she would have just been left in a corridor for hours not knowing what was happening.
“Something needs to change.”
Following the “below average” service that Mrs Walker and her family received, they lodged an official complaint with the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
When contacted for a comment, the Trust said that they’d dealt with 200 patients on that particular evening that Mrs Walker had been admitted.
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “The pressure on our services remains very high, with over 200 people attending the Emergency Department at University Hospital of North Durham on this day. Many were very unwell and, as always, our teams worked hard to give them appropriate diagnostic tests and treatments.
“We are sorry that members of Mrs Walker’s family are unhappy with some aspects of her experience whilst in our care. Should they wish to discuss their concerns further and, in more detail, Mrs Walker’s family can contact our patient experience team on 0800 7835774 or by emailing: cdda-tr.patientexperiencecddft@nhs.net.
The Northern Echo also contacted the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) over the allegations – with the regional emergency service also noting that there was “strain” on the ambulance network on April 1.
Chief operating officer at NEAS, Stephen Segasby, said: “There were pressures across the system on 1 April - we were in our highest level of escalation from early afternoon until the early hours of the next morning, with delays at several hospitals in the south of our region.
“We apologise for any distress that patients and their loved ones experienced because of a delay from our service during this period.
“We are working with our hospital colleagues and partners to address delays and we welcome feedback from anyone who has concerns about the service they received so that we can respond to them directly around the circumstances surrounding their care.”
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