Nottingham hospital chiefs have apologised after a 95-year-old Veteran was forced to wait 26 hours in a Queen’s Medical Centre corridor for a hospital bed.
Stanley Solomons was admitted to hospital at 11am on Sunday, October 16, after staff at his nursing home became worried about his health. He was taken in an ambulance with blue lights to the QMC and was eventually given a bed on Monday (October 17) afternoon.
His daughter, Labour councillor Rachael Ellis at Gedling Borough Council, was by his side while in hospital and said he was “frail”. She praised hard-working staff, saying she saw them “literally running” around A&E.
The Chief Operating Officer of Nottingham University Hospitals, which runs both the QMC and City Hospital, said it “sincerely apologised” to Mr Solomons and his family.
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Councillor Ellis, who represents Bestwood St Albans, said: “When I got to A&E I could see the trolleys stacking up the walkways.
“When I walked around I could see trolleys with around 20 paramedics with patients. I was told the paramedics hadn’t been able to hand the patients over. I was horrified.”
She said her dad was treated in the corridor and was put on an antibiotic drip.
He is now on a ward and is responding to treatment, Cllr Ellis added. “The staff have been brilliant. You talk to them and they are really worried,” she said.
“Even the cleaner was helping out. Everyone is pulling together and doing their best but the situation is dire.”
The Veteran, originally from London, trained at the codebreakers’ HQ Bletchley Park during the Second World War and went on to serve with the RAF and later at a ‘listening post’ in Hong Kong.
Chief Operating Officer for Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, Lisa Kelly said: “We sincerely apologise to Mr Solomons and his family for the delay he has faced being transferred to a ward following his care and treatment in our Emergency Department; this is not the service we aim to provide our patients with.
“Our staff are working incredibly hard to offer the best care and we continue to work with our partners across Nottinghamshire’s health and social care system to discharge patients no longer needing an acute hospital bed”.
NUH declared a critical incident last month, saying emergency demand for care and the challenge of discharging patients was leading to “high numbers of patients waiting in the hospitals”. The incident has now been stood down.
The Trust said as of October 17, 183 patients are medically fit for discharge.
Earlier this month, the East Midlands Ambulance Service Chief Executive said it was “unacceptable” that some paramedics are spending hours waiting in A&E to discharge patients.
The health secretary Thérèse Coffey has announced £500m emergency funding for care home operators and home care services to help tackle the care crisis which is seen across the country.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “No-one should have to wait longer than necessary for emergency care and the Health and Social Care Secretary has set out her priorities of A, B, C and D – ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists.
“Our Plan For Patients sets out a range of measures to help ease pressures, including an extra £500 million to speed up discharge and free up hospital beds, reducing waits in A&E and getting ambulances quickly back out on the road.
“This is alongside NHS plans to rapidly boost capacity and resilience ahead of winter, including increasing the number of NHS 999 and 111 call handlers and creating the equivalent of at least 7,000 more beds.”
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