Former nurse shares horror experience at “dangerous” Lincoln A&E

A former nurse has described the A&E department at Lincoln County Hospital as “a very dangerous place” with “patients on the floor, holding their heads in their hands” after a recent frustrating experience.

The 65-year-old disabled woman, who wished not to be named, told The Lincolnite she was a nurse in Lincolnshire for over 40 years from 1975, including at Lincoln County Hospital, and is “ashamed” to have ever worked there, as “it is so terrible”.

The former nurse had been unable to keep any solid food down for approximately three hours before calling an ambulance, and she was blue lighted to Lincoln A&E, where she arrived early in the evening on Saturday, October 15.

The woman, who is also separately undergoing investigations on the 2/52 cancer pathway, said she was still vomiting as she entered A&E, and soon after she saw a triage nurse who took her blood pressure.

She said she was then put in a room on her own with nothing to drink and “luckily had water with me”, but felt ignored and was “left with numerous vomit bowls”.

The patient said she was “left unattended for hours” and “no-one checked on me once I had been through the triage nurse”.

The frustrated woman said it was not until she ventured out of the room with her mobility aid, which she needs to walk, in the early hours of the morning that she was asked who she was and where she had come from, before she was given directions to the toilet. She believes there was a “total lack of duty of care”.

She also claims she was not assessed by a doctor, did not have IV fluids and was not given a sip of water, and that she became more and more dehydrated, something she believes the CT scan showed.

After going back to the room she had been put in on her own previously, the patient said a health care assistant later came to see her at around 7am to put a canula in and take bloods.

She was then taken to the Surgical Emergency Admissions Unit (SEAU), but there were no beds available. The patient claims she then waited until permission was given for a ‘bay’ to be opened and waited on a trolly in the ward corridor.

The patient was then settled at the side of the bed, but didn’t want to get into it as she finds it difficult to get comfortable lying down due to her hip.

A CT scan was then ordered for her, which she thinks she had at around 3pm and she was also weighed and had her blood pressure taken.

Notes from a doctor who saw the patient say that “she was keen to return home, against medical advice and capacity was assessed” and said “I didn’t feel it was safe for her to stay there any longer.” She left the hospital at around 5.40pm on Sunday, October 16.

The former nurse said: “The A&E Department at Lincoln County Hospital is a very dangerous place. Patients on the floor, holding their heads in their hands.

“I never want to go back to that department ever again. It would kill me, due to lack of care, consideration, and total lack of professionalism.”

The Lincolnite contacted United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Lincoln County Hospital, said its emergency departments remain extremely busy and “our teams are doing everything they can to care for our patients”.

A hospital spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on individual cases.

“However, we would invite the patient to contact us directly if there is anything that they would like to discuss with us about the care she received in our hospital.

“Like many areas, our emergency departments remain extremely busy. We are sorry about the delays, but our teams are doing everything they can to care for our patients.”

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