Patient, 88, faced 21-hour corridor wait

A patient with suspected heart problems has said she was left in a corridor for 21 hours without seeing a doctor or being admitted to a ward.

Heather Mitchell from Wem, in Shropshire, contacted the BBC after a TV documentary crew went undercover to film emergency patients' experiences at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Ms Mitchell, 88, said she had asked a number of doctors if she was on their list, and feared a less-able patient would have been "forgotten about".

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) apologised for the care experienced by Ms Mitchell and said it had been "under extreme pressure due to the ongoing demand for our services".

Ms Mitchell was taken to hospital overnight in early June, after suffering what she believed to be a bout of cardiac arrythmia, which left her feeling faint and as if she would pass out.

She said she had been advised to call 999 in such circumstances.

After waiting two hours for an ambulance, then overnight in a handover area, she was told at about 10:00 BST she would be admitted to investigate her heart issues.

Ms Mitchell described how she was wheeled through some doors and "then the bed stopped".

She said she asked staff: "Is this it? This is a corridor!"

The patient described how she spent from 11:00 until 08:00 the next morning in the same area outside a ward, receiving care from nurses, but no examination by a doctor.

She said she stopped two passing doctors and asked if she was on their list, then late in the afternoon asked a nurse if she was on anyone's list to be seen or admitted, only to be told she was not.

"What am I supposed to do? Live here on a corridor for the rest of my life?" she said she asked staff.

She was eventually discharged the next morning, and said she had been put off calling for medical help in the future after her experience.

Ms Mitchell contacted BBC Radio Shropshire after Channel Four's Dispatches filmed undercover in Shrewsbury's A&E department for several weeks, in footage the broadcaster said "exposes the suffering and dangers patients face on a daily basis".

She said she was lucky "her brain was still functioning" so she could ask about her treatment.

"If I hadn't spoken up for myself, and an old person of my age often isn't [able to], they'd have been lying there for weeks."

Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing at SaTH, said: "Our hospitals remain under extreme pressure due to the ongoing demand for our services and we do have patients at times waiting in areas within the Emergency Department, which are designated to help with hospital capacity.

"This is not how we want or expect to care for patients and we are truly sorry that Mrs Mitchell was cared for in such an area."

Responding to the documentary, the hospital trust said: "We understand our challenges and are investing in our services and making steady improvements as a trust, as noted in our recent Care Quality Commission report."

It added that there was "still much more to do".

"We are very sorry that our patients have experienced anything less than the quality care we strive for and we are determined, working with partners, to improve the care and experience for everyone."

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