Cancer patient's 'uncomfortable' hospital floor stay

A woman with terminal ovarian cancer has described how "uncomfortable" she was after being told to sleep on a hospital floor, saying it was "not where anybody should be".

Madeleine Butcher has visited Blackpool Victoria Hospital seven times over the past year to be treated for sepsis, linked to her condition.

On the most recent visit, in late June, she was told she could be waiting up to 36 hours to be admitted and no trolley or comfortable chair was available.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust apologised and said it was conducting a "thorough investigation".

Mrs Butcher, from Poulton-le-Fylde, said her cancer made it painful to sit on a hard chair for long periods of time.

"I actually said to the doctor, 'You better find me some blankets and a pillow because I'm going to have to lie down'," she said.

"I said 'I can't sit down any longer and I'll just lie on the floor' and he seemed to be quite happy to provide me with a blanket and a pillow.

"It was very uncomfortable, not where a terminally ill patient who is vulnerable and prone to infection should be - not where anybody should be."

Mrs Butcher's husband, John, took a picture of his wife lying on the hospital floor, which has been seen by thousands of people after being shared online.

He said: "I thought, 'This isn't right', so I took a picture, and it was only when I got home later that day and looked at the picture that it started to make me angry and that shouldn't have happened."

The picture was also posted on X by Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South, and retweeted by Wes Streeting, before he was made secretary of state for health and social care after the general election.

In his post, Mr Webb said: "The treatment that Madeleine Butcher has endured is absolutely unacceptable and it fills me with horror.

"No individual, especially someone who is facing the end of their life, should ever be subjected to sleeping on the cold, hard floor of a hospital."

Mrs Butcher said that within 30 minutes of lying on the floor two nurses found a trolley in a side room where she was able to spend the rest of her wait.

She hopes others do not have a similar experience in the future.

"If I could just make it better for the next person or the next few people who come along in the decision-making process I'll be happy with that," she said.

Marie Forshaw, from Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, said she was "deeply sorry" this had happened, adding: "It goes against our commitment to provide caring, safe, and respectful treatment to our patients and our communities."

She added: "We are conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this incident.

"Once the investigation is complete, we will do everything we can to ensure the learning from this occurrence is implemented to prevent such incidents in the future."

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