Grandmother sent home from hospital with broken neck and fractured spine


  • Florence Frost, 88, had a bad fall in her garden at home in Dagenham, Essex
  • She went to AE at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, with broken neck and spine
  • Husband and daughter asked medics to give her an X-ray but were told no
  • Doctors send Mrs Frost home with painkillers saying she was ‘badly bruised’
  • Two days later her condition deteriorated and the OAP was rushed back
  • The extent of her injuries has been revealed and she is now in hospital ward
  • She must lie there immobile for six to eight weeks to limit further damage
  • Mrs Frost’s daughter says she is ‘very confused’ and ‘constantly crying’
  • Lynne Reynolds said: ‘To treat an 88-year-old woman like that is disgusting’

By
Harriet Arkell

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Florence Frost, 88, pictured with husband Victor, 90, was sent away from AE at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, despite having a broken neck and spine

Emergency doctors sent home a grandmother who broke her neck and back in a fall in her garden telling her to take painkillers.

Florence Frost, 88, went to the AE department at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, after the accident at her home in Dagenham, Essex, which lefter in agony and barely able to move.

Her husband Victor Frost, 90, and daughter, Lynne Reynolds, 55, demanded that Mrs Frost be X-rayed, but medics insisted she was just ‘badly bruised’ and sent the elderly woman home.

Two days later the frail pensioner was rushed back to the hospital after her condition deteriorated.

She has now been told that she will have to lie, immobile, on a ward for six to eight weeks to limit the damage she’s already suffered.

Today her daughter spoke of her anger and fear that the original blunder by doctors could leave her mother in pain for the rest of her life.

Mrs Reynolds, whose parents live with her and her family in Dagenham, said: ‘One false move could have left her paralysed.

‘My son and I helped her into bed and to move when she was at home – and we could have done more damage to her as we thought it was just a bruised neck.

‘We didn’t have a clue it was broken.’

She said her distressed mother is ‘in a very confused state’, adding: ‘Mum is constantly crying all day and she more or less can’t move an inch.  She’s just lying in bed.’

Mrs Reynolds added: ‘It’s very upsetting for me and my dad, who is 90 years old.  They’re treating her well in the ward, but when she went to AE they just sent her home.

‘To treat an 88-year-old woman like that is absolutely disgusting.’

She has now complained to Dagenham and Rainham MP Jon Cruddas about the treatment her mother received at AE and is also writing to the £200m flagship hospital to make a formal complaint.

A Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals spokeswoman said: ‘We have not had any contact from Mrs Frost or her family regarding her care.

‘We take patient safety extremely seriously, so we would always encourage patients to contact us to discuss any concerns they might have so we can then investigate them.’

Angry: Mrs Frost’s daughter, Lynne Reynolds, 55, and husband asked AE staff to X-ray her but were refused

Mrs Frost’s family have complained about the treatment she received at Romford’s Queen’s Hospital AE

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