- Grandfather with heart condition forced to sleep in chair at AE
- Terry Burns, 44, spent the night in waiting area due to lack of beds
- Royal Preston Hospital, Lancashire, has now apologised
07:17 EST, 8 April 2014
|
08:53 EST, 8 April 2014
Ignored: Terry Burns, 44, who had previously had a double bypass, spent the night at Royal Preston Hospital in a chair
A heart patient was forced to spend the night in AE sleeping in a chair after the hospital ran out of beds.
Heart patient Terry Burns, 44, was admitted to Royal Preston Hospital, Lancashire, last Wednesday night for an ECG and blood tests.
But when his family returned the following morning, they found him still in the same chair in the waiting room.
Hospital staff have now apologised to Mr
Burns, who underwent a double heart bypass three years ago, saying there
was not a shortage of beds but that the hospital had been ‘unusually
busy’.
Although some tests were carried out, there was no bed for him by the time his sister Tina Burns-Moore left that evening.
When
she returned in the morning she was horrified to find her brother
sitting in the same chair she had left him in, fully clothed and
unwashed.
Ms Burns-Moore, 45, said: ‘We are really angry. He has come in for help because he hasn’t been well.
‘If
they couldn’t accommodate him, someone could have contacted us and we
could have taken him to sleep in his own bed, if things were that
desperate.
‘He didn’t really sleep [well] in the chair. It was chaos – there were people coming and going.
‘My
brother tells me there were a lot of people in the same position.
‘There
was a lady on a trolley in a bay who was asked to get off the trolley
because they needed it.
‘I just think people need to know what is happening because it is a terrible state of affairs.’
Mr Burns, who lives in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, was given a bed later that day and was able to get some rest while he and his family awaited the test results.
Saying sorry: Royal Preston Hospital has apologised to Mr Burns for his ordeal last week
Apology issued: Despite staff knowing he had undergone a double bypass three years ago, Mr Burns, from Bamber Bridge, was forced to spend the night sleeping in a chair in the waiting area at the hospital’s AE
Karen Partington, chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Firstly we would like to sincerely apologise for the delay in identifying a bed for Mr Burns.
‘Our priority is to always provide excellent care with compassion for our patients and we regret that in this instance that was not achieved.
‘We very much encourage any patients and families who have any queries about their care and treatment to contact the team that is looking after them or talk to our patient advice and liaison services.
‘We have already started an investigation into why this happened and will take action to ensure this does not happen in the future.’
A hospital spokesman added there was not a regular shortage of beds and Mr Burns was unfortunate to have been admitted during an unusually busy period.
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