Family hits out at treatment of frail pensioner

Jul 15 2010 by John Hutcheson, West Lothian Courier

THE FAMILY of a frail pensioner sent home from hospital covered in blood with a needle in his arm have hit out at medics for not looking after him properly.

William Kenneth Maclean (77), known as Ken, suffers from dementia and was taken to St John’s Hospital after suffering a severe nose bleed – a problem he has endured for the past 18 months.

His daughter, Debbie, said that when she went to collect him the following day her father was still wearing his blood-soaked clothes – even though she had given him clean ones – and his face had dried blood all over it.

Debbie (46) said that not long after she got her dad home, staff from the hospital called to say they thought the pensioner still had a needle in his arm from his drip. And she said they were made to wait for 25 minutes in a day room at the hospital as nobody was available to take the needle out, while her father grew upset and agitated.

Debbie, who looks after Ken full time with partner Chris Cowin at their home in Whitburn, said she was appalled by the treatment her father received.

And she said she is also frustrated that after 18 months, nobody can tell her why her father suffers from recurring nose bleeds.

She said her father was admitted to St John’s at 12.30pm on July 5 after his nose began to bleed while he was at Whitdale Day Centre.

She picked him up at 4pm the next day and was shocked by the way he looked.

Debbie told the Courier: “My dad was at his daycare and one of the carers had taken him out for a cup of tea, when she returned to the car he was bleeding profusely from his nose.

“The carer brought him back to us and suggested we call for an ambulance, which we didn’t hesitate to do.

“He was taken to hospital and by the time we got there he was out of A&E and in the treatment room up on pre-admission ward 19A and was thoroughly confused.

“We also informed the doctor treating him he has dementia so he didn’t really understand what was going on.

“They put a nasal tampon in his nose and informed us he had a hole in his nasal cartilage and was kept in overnight for treatment and observation.

“I called the next day to see how dad was and was told he was fine to come home but was also informed that he had wandered away from the ward during the night.

“When we turned up to take him home he still had on his clothes from the previous day, was covered in blood and his face and nose had not been cleaned up.

“Upon arriving home we got a call from the ward asking us to check his left arm because they thought they had left the needle in it, and right enough, it was there, so they told us to bring him back to take the needle out.”

Debbie said that while staff apologised for the blunder, she is still upset about the way he was treated and is considering lodging a formal complaint with the hospital.

“I get really angry about this because I feel that due to his dementia he doesn’t get the respect he deserves,” she said.

“After 18 months we still don’t know why he gets these nose bleeds in the first place, they seem to just patch him up and send him away again.

“People don’t seem to understand how his dementia effects him.”

Melanie Hornett, nurse director, NHS Lothian, said: “I would like to apologise to the family of Mr Maclean for any distress caused. Mr Maclean was sent home with a small plastic tube, which had been used to provide fluids, in his arm. It was noticed within minutes of him leaving the hospital and his family were contacted immediately by staff to arrange for it to be removed.

“Mr Maclean was discharged home in the clothes he was wearing when admitted the previous day at his request.

“A member of staff took time to explain this to his daughter when she arrived to collect him.”