AN ELDERLY woman's "lonely" death in an Ysbyty Glan Clwyd corridor "should haunt the Welsh Government", a politician has said.
Nadia Wainwright, from Henllan, was at the Bodelwyddan hospital on Monday when she witnessed an elderly woman’s final moments.
Nadia said the woman died alone in a corridor in full view of other patients, before a paramedic intervened to place a blanket over the woman’s face to preserve her dignity.
Ms Wainwright noted: “She had passed away alone in the corridor with no privacy and no one holding her hand.”
Vale of Clwyd MS Gareth Davies has called for an urgent statement from the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care following the distressing account.
Frontline staff
Mr Davies raised the incident during today’s Business Statement and Announcement in the Senedd.
He stressed that this was not a criticism of frontline NHS staff, who he said were working under extreme and intolerable systemic pressures, but said the incident exposes the human cost of a system that has allowed “corridor care” to become normalised.
He warned that no patient should spend their final moments in such undignified and distressing conditions and described corridor care as “cruel and inhuman”, and unworthy of a developed nation.
Funding
In response, the Trefnydd and Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Jane Hutt MS said, “over the last four years, £12 million in Six Goals funding has been provided to Betsi Cadwaladr to improve urgent and emergency care.”
She went on to say that the Six Goals funding is about “safely managing more people in the community.”
Mr Davies has also written to the Chief Executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Carol Shillabeer, seeking reassurance that this incident will be examined thoroughly and that decisive action will follow.
Following the exchange, Gareth Davies MS said: “The distressing reports of a patient dying alone on a trolley in a hospital corridor is a shocking indictment of the state of emergency care in Wales, and it should haunt the Welsh Government.
“This tragic case exposes the consequences of a lack of community beds, delayed discharges, overcrowding, and a system that has allowed corridor care to become routine.
“The Welsh Government must now act immediately to end corridor care by expanding bed capacity, speeding up patient flow, increasing access to primary care, and treating this as the national emergency it so clearly is.”
Medical emergency
Angela Wood, executive director of nursing and midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “We are aware of a post being shared on social media describing a distressing experience within the Emergency Department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.
"We cannot comment on individual patient circumstances for reasons of confidentiality; however, we recognise that witnessing a medical emergency or a patient who is critically unwell can be deeply upsetting for families, other patients and members of the public.
“We want to be clear that providing care with dignity, compassion and respect is fundamentally important to us. Corridor care is not something we want for our patients, and we fully understand the concern and anxiety it can cause when people see this happening.
“We recognise that too many patients within our Emergency Departments are waiting longer than they should, and that this can have a real and distressing impact on individuals and their families.
"We know that at times some patients are not receiving the standard of environment or experience we would want for them, and we are absolutely committed to addressing this.
“In common with NHS providers across the United Kingdom, our Emergency Departments are under significant and sustained pressure, necessitating the temporary use of corridor care for some patients. Additional clinical oversight is provided in these areas to ensure patient safety is maintained.
“A significant programme of improvement is underway across the health and social care system to address the causes and consequences of long waits in our Emergency Departments.
"This includes placing experienced clinicians at the front door to assess and stream patients more quickly, improving early access to specialist teams, strengthening senior clinical decision-making and expanding care closer to home so that only those who need emergency hospital treatment attend our departments.
"We are also working closely with local authority and health and care partners to address delays in discharging patients who are medically fit to leave hospital, as this has a direct impact on patient flow and crowding.
“We have now been contacted directly by the author of the social media post and will be speaking with them to understand the circumstances in more detail.”
Share