EXCLUSIVE: Diabetic 84 year old pensioner left in hospital corridor for 11 hours.

‘She was shown no kindness, no compassion, nothing, just left there for 11 hours waiting to see a doctor sitting on a window ledge.’

84 year old Margaret from Romford was asked to attend Queen’s hospital Accident and Emergency to hand over a scan disk for a doctor to read. Instead, 11 hours after arriving not only had she sat on a window ledge for all that length of time, but the doctor openly dismissed her telling her ‘I don’t why you’ve bought that here, we don’t have the facility to read it’.

Margaret and her family are furious and disgusted with the appalling way she was treated and despite waiting 11 hours, never actually received any care.

Margaret told the Havering Daily: “I was sent for an MRI scan at a clinic in Hornchurch. The nurse at the clinic told me to take the disk to the Accident and Emergency department at Queen’s.

“Myself and my daughter arrived there Monday at 1pm and left there just after midnight. I initially saw a Triage nurse and then sat and waited. The corridors were full, there were people lying on the floor in pain. It was awful.

“It has been hard to see my GP as well, all we get to see is the nurse and when you go to the hospital, this is what happens.”

Julie, Margaret’s daughter sat alongside her mum as she waited to be seen. She told the Havering Daily:”My mum is diabetic, she had no food or water. I had to go to the shop and buy a can of coke for £1.50. Her feet were swollen after sitting on a ledge for a long period of time.

“There were empty wards and I asked staff can my mum please come and sit on one of the comfy chairs but the staff said no as they were supposed to be waiting for people. I told the staff that she had not eaten and one answered that I had just missed the sandwich lady, but when I asked others there, no one had seen this sandwich lady.

“We waited for changeover and that took an hour and the staff still did not help. The way she was treated was awful, they showed no kindness, no compassion no duty of care. There were people lying on the floor in corridors. There was a man who had waited 16 hours, an elderly man who had slipped and had his head bashed. It really was appalling.

“Apparently there is no A and E anymore, despite the Prime Minister telling us things have got back to normal. You now get told to go to either to major or minor.”

Margaret and her family have contacted the Prime Minister and their local MP in regards to the shocking treatment they received.

Julie continued:”After waiting all that time, when we got to see the doctor the first thing he said to us was ‘why are you here?’ He then went on to tell us ‘I don’t know why you have bought that here (the scan disk) we don’t have the facility to read it.’ He didn’t say how can we help, nothing, there was no kindness from him. My mum is 84 years old and she had waited 11 hours to see him and that’s how he talks to her.

“We are really angry at the way she was treated. She hasn’t been able to see her GP either and this is what happens when you attend Queen’s hospital.”

Margaret finally got to see her GP yesterday (Tuesday 31 May) morning and he told her she had a suspected brain tumour.

Ward Councillor Dilip Patel is now looking into this shocking incident and told the Havering Daily: “I am appalled at what has happened to Margaret and will be contacting the Trust’s Chief Executive to find out what measures they have in place for vulnerable people such as Margaret. This is totally unacceptable.”

Mamta Shetty Vaidya, BHRUT Chief Medical Officer, said:

“We’re sorry Margaret waited a long time in our Emergency Department. Patients who come to A&E are seen in order of clinical need and those requiring emergency treatment are seen first.”