Exclusive: Elderly Cancer Patient Left in Corridor at Queen’s Hospital: Daughter’s Anger.

An Elm Park woman has spoken of her anger and heartbreak after what she describes as degrading treatment of her elderly father at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, saying the experience has left her deeply worried about how older patients are being treated.

Lauren says she was forced to watch over her 70 year old father constantly after losing confidence in the care he was receiving. Her father, who has stage four cancer and is undergoing treatment, was blue lighted to Queen’s Hospital two weeks ago after suddenly becoming seriously unwell.

She told the Havering Daily:
“My father was rushed to A&E with what paramedics believed was cold sepsis. They weren’t sure if it was sepsis or possibly a stroke.”

What followed, Lauren says, was an experience that left her shocked and angry.

“When we got to Queen’s, my father was left on a corridor all night. I asked a nurse about him having cold sepsis and why he was so cold and her response was, ‘Well it’s cold outside.’”

Lauren said the same paramedics who had brought her father in at the end of their shift later returned to find him still lying in the same place many hours later.

“They went to the head nurse and asked why he hadn’t been moved and she just shrugged her shoulders.”

Lauren said her biggest fear was infection, given her father’s fragile health.

“Cancer sufferers have extremely low immune systems and should be isolated. Instead, my dad was surrounded by people coughing and sneezing, and one patient believed to have pneumonia right in front of him.”

She said she had to fight to have her father moved.

“On Monday afternoon a nurse from Infectious Diseases told us he should not be on a corridor. Nobody had masks on. It felt completely unsafe.”

Lauren also raised what she describes as serious concerns about medication decisions, which she says only deepened her distress.

“One doctor said that if there was a possibility of a stroke, blood thinners shouldn’t be given yet. Then the next day my dad was injected with blood thinners in his stomach.”

At that point Lauren intervened. “When nurses then attempted to administer a steroid injection, I asked them what they were doing. I asked why, because he hadn’t had them for a long time. After that, they wrote on his records that the patient had refused the injection. That wasn’t true.”

Lauren says she escalated her concerns to a consultant.

“He checked my dad’s notes and said there was nothing to justify a blood thinning injection. He called the nurses involved and they denied giving it. Even the consultant was shocked. My dad had a clear bruise on his stomach where the injection had been given.”

Lauren says she became very concerned when she noticed her dad was bleeding into his catheter.

“When I questioned it, none of the nurses seemed interested. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“They are now attempting to discharge him despite his condition.

“They still don’t know what’s wrong with him. He can’t stand or walk, yet they’re trying to send him home. It feels like they just want the bed.”

She says her experience has left her deeply concerned about how elderly patients are being treated.

“I’m angry and upset. If this is how an elderly cancer patient is treated, what hope is there for others who don’t have someone standing over them every day?”

In response, Chief Executive Matthew Trainer said:
“I’m sorry Mr Gallagher and his family had a poor experience in our A&E. We prioritise the most clinically vulnerable patients for isolation and moved him to a cubicle as soon as one was available. He was admitted to a ward the next day.”

Lauren strongly disputes this account.

“My father was never moved to any isolation booth. Matthew Trainer should go and spend the night in that area and see how well he thinks this hospital is being run.”

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