October 19, 2021 12.29 pm This story is over 29 months old

Elderly man had to wait 13 hours in pain on hospital trolley

93-year-old was not fed for the duration of the stay
Mr P Frost, 93, who has dementia and spent 13 hours waiting for a bed in Scunthorpe A&E after a fall Submitted by Andrew Frost (son) Approved for use by all partners

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.”