PM warns against complacency to avoid “New Year lockdown”

A 93-year-old Scunthorpe man was left lying in pain on a hospital trolley for 13 hours.

The elderly man, who has dementia, was taken to Scunthorpe General Hospital after he fractured his hip in a fall.

His family are appalled by the care he received by the Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Trust hospital saying he was distressed, hungry and thirsty when he was discharged.

Andrew Frost wants the hospital to learn from the mistakes so that his father’s suffering wasn’t in vain.

The Scunthorpe care home resident was taken to hospital on Friday, October 15 after a fall.

He was then placed on a trolley in a waiting area around 9pm until he could be taken for a CT-scan and X-ray.

Andrew was concerned about his father’s confusion, but was assured that hospital staff were trained to care for patients with dementia.

When he rang the A&E department the next morning, he was horrified to discover his father was still on trolley, more than 12 hours later.

He claims he was also told that staff had not offered him any food or drink because he appeared “aggressive” and agitated.

By 11.45am, his father was finally in a bed.

But when his family visited later that day, they found him hungry, thirsty and in pain. He couldn’t reach water that was placed nearby because of his hip fractures.

Andrew was told that records of his father’s medical care in A&E weren’t available, meaning that discharge nurses were unable to offer him any pain relief.

His care home was also reluctant to accept him back without proper documentation.

He eventually returned home around 6pm on Saturday, where he “ate like someone who hadn’t been fed for two days.”

Andrew said he was disgusted by what his father went through.

“I was furious at his treatment. It is very emotional to see a relative have that sort of treatment, especially someone who is now a frail elderly man,” he said.

“He was distressed the whole time he was there.

“The fact there didn’t seem to be any documentation made his experience more infuriating than it needed to be.

“The care home staff told us that when he got back, he ate the cupboards bare.

“I would like the hospital to look at the way he was treated and make sure it isn’t repeated so that his suffering isn’t in vain.”

Jo Loughborough, Lead Nurse for Patient Experience, apologised and said the trust aimed to provide better service even when A&E was very busy.

“I am sincerely sorry to hear about the experience Mr Frost and his family had. Our staff are working extremely hard under enormous pressure and whilst we are experiencing very high attendance numbers in our A&E departments, as a trust our expectation is that we ensure we continue to offer the best care possible to our patients and their families,” she said.

“Our complaint team will be working with Mr Frost’s family and the relevant departments to investigate these concerns and feedback the outcome to the family through our usual processes.”

A disgruntled parent of a secondary school pupil in Lincoln said their child has to eat their lunch outside in the cold weather while stood up, as break time can be overcrowded in indoor spaces.

The parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Lincolnite that Lincoln Christ Hospital School instructed their child to eat lunch in a small shelter on the school field, which is “rammed full of other students” as it is the “only shelter they get from the rain”.

Upon contacting the school, the parent claims that they were told of several outdoor seating areas for their child to sit during lunch breaks, but despite this, no covered seating spaces were available.

With the recent colder weather and imminent winter months on the horizon, the parent called it a “massive safeguarding risk” to not provide indoor spaces for the children during lunch times.

The parent said: “This winter is going to be very cold and wet and forcing kids outside in it is not acceptable in my opinion.

“There should be an inside warm area to sit and eat, kids can’t sit on wet cold benches with freezing hands and eat comfortably.

“My child has already had a few days off with a fever and chill after being stood in the rain and cold for their breaks and not being able to be sheltered due to the large number of kids at the school.

“This situation is going to get worse by far, as the winter months hit and kids have already missed enough school; surely this is a massive safeguarding risk and they have a duty of care to look after my child in a warm, safe environment for their school day.”

The headteacher of the school, Martin McKeown, told The Lincolnite in response that the school had two main areas for students to go at break times, which had plenty of picnic benches and lots of seating.

He said: “If we find that a student wants a quieter place to eat, play or talk with friends, we advise them that the best area to go would be the junior playground – this is usually quiet and has lots of space both for playing around and sitting.

“While the majority of students still prefer to run around outside, students can shelter in the covered areas at the back of school, along the cloisters, the corridor from the cloister to the buzz bar and if needed, the buzz bar. These areas will only be used if it is raining or cold.”

Mr McKeown also added: “There is additional seating at the geography playground and the biology courtyard if needed.  These benches will be moved if students cannot find a place to sit in one of the designated areas, but every break this year has had multiple free benches.

“Some of these areas will get busy when it is raining, so I would recommend that children come to school with a suitable coat if they do not wish to enter these areas. I can understand that not all children will want to go to these busy areas – they can be noisy and busy if it is wet. I mentioned this in a parental letter a few weeks ago.

“There is limited space and if students want to get away from the busy canteen area or cloisters, they will need to bring a coat to stay warm.”

The school has introduced ‘split breaks’ for lunch times to allow for year seven students to have their break fifteen minutes earlier and find a spot and help the younger pupils settle into a routine, though this has meant that indoor spaces are limited.

To try and combat the lack of indoor space during colder months, the school has drawn up contingency plans such as opening up the gym, old hall and marquees for lunch breaks.

This, however, comes with a “detrimental effect” on teaching and learning, due to the old hall being used as classrooms, as well as a “heavy price tag”, according to the headteacher.

The school is also considering the possibility of using the full indoor space by scrapping the split breaks, though this has been questioned due to the “excellent feedback” it has received since it was introduced.

“Student voice has clearly said that they prefer the less busy split breaks – even with being outside,” Mr McKeown said.

“We operated this system all of last year with excellent feedback in comparison to the alternative. 1,300 students all at break at the same time can be very daunting for year 7 and 8 in particular.”

Coronavirus cases are rising again, with 801 positive tests recorded in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, as the government admitted winter will be “challenging” and health advisers warn of “waning immunity” from vaccinations.

Monday’s figure is 9.7% higher than the 730 cases at the same point last week.

The latest government data also shows one death of a Lincolnshire resident has been taken off the records, while two new deaths were reported at Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals.

The latest COVID stats for Lincolnshire are:

• 801 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire with 643 in Lincolnshire, 63 in North East Lincolnshire and 95 in North Lincolnshire
• One death taken off the government figures – this happens when data is revised or looked at again in some way
• Hospital data showed two deaths in the region’s facilities, with one patient each at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust

The latest data for Lincolnshire shows West Lindsey is currently the area with the fifth highest infection rate nationally with a rate of 743.4 per 100,000 population.

Other authorities in the top 100 authorities include South Kesteven District Council whose infection rates have increased to 654.2 and East Lindsey with 576.6.

Greater Lincolnshire as a whole has seen a rise in infection rates and, on average, sits above the England average of 424 per 100,000 population.

Out of the region’s authorities, six areas sit above that national average with five moving up the rankings, but five going down.

North Lincolnshire, which has spent several weeks near to the top of the area has now dropped to 133rd highest and is the only authority to see a drop in rates in the past few days.

Lincolnshire’s infection rates from September 27 to October 19 | Table: Daniel Jaines, Data: Gov.UK

Sky News has reported that Downing Street has admitted winter will be “challenging”.

Asked about rising rates, Downing Street said it was keeping a “close watch” on the latest statistics, but that they were “still broadly in line” with modelling.

They said the vaccination programme continues to be the first line of defence, along with new treatments, testing and public health advice.

“It is thanks to our vaccination programme that we are able to substantially break the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths.”

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, October 18

128,664 cases (up 801)

• 85,178 in Lincolnshire (up 643)
• 21,194 in North Lincolnshire (up 95)
• 22,292 in North East Lincolnshire (up 63)

2,375 deaths (down one)

• 1,736 from Lincolnshire (down one)
• 327 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 312 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,428 hospital deaths (up two)

• 876 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up one)
• 44 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 507 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.