Elderly Clitheroe woman lay in the gutter outside hospital for 30 minutes as she waited for ambulance (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Elderly Clitheroe woman lay in the gutter outside hospital for 30 minutes as she waited for ambulance

11:16am Friday 28th September 2012 in News By Vanessa Cornall, Crime reporter

A widow lay in a gutter outside a hospital for 30 minutes – only to be driven 300 metres to its urgent care centre when an ambulance arrived.

Gladys Shepherd, 81, from Clitheroe, had to wait while paramedics were dispatched from Altham, seven miles away, despite her granddaughter asking for medical help at Burnley General Hospital.

Her family, who have lodged a complaint, said they were disgusted at the indignity the grandmother-of-eight suffered after she fell in the hospital grounds.

Gladys slipped as she waited for her heavily pregnant granddaughter Louise Woods to bring her car to the entrance of Maple House, part of the hospital complex, after an appointment at the East Lancashire’s memory service.

On hearing her grandmother’s cries for help, Louise ran back to the entrance but was unable to lift Gladys back to her feet.

Louise, 26, of Brownlow Street, Clitheroe, said: “I ran inside the hospital for help.

“Three receptionists came running out with umbrellas but said there were no doctors available to check her over before moving her, so I would have to ring an ambulance.

“My Gran was literally left lying in the gutter in the rain.

“I couldn’t believe it. You would think a hospital would be the best place to have an accident, but oh no.

“We tried holding umbrellas over her and I took off my coat to cover her but she was still in a puddle.

“I even told them I would push her myself around to the urgent care centre in a wheelchair if someone would just help me get her off the floor.

“Surely you would have thought they would have spared a doctor for two minutes rather than wasting all those resources on sending an ambulance.”

After calling for an ambulance twice paramedics arrived to help Mrs Shepherd shortly before 2.30pm.

The mother-of-four had facial injuries as well as severe bruising to her legs, shoulder and arms.

Louise said: “The paramedic literally drove us the 300 metres to the hospital entrance which I could easily have walked.

“The way she was treated is disgusting. Even when we got to the urgent care centre things didn’t improve. We were left waiting for hours and my frail gran was left to sit in her wet clothes. She was still in her wet clothes when she got home five hours later at 7.30pm.

“Gran has been really shaken up by the whole incident and is now wary about leaving the house. She is literally covered in brusies. My family is making a formal complaint. It is the indignity she had to go through that makes all of this so much worse.”

Russ Mclean, chairman of Lancashire’s patient voices group, said: “I was very concerned to learn of this lady’s experiences.

“I am worried to learn that common sense has not prevailed on this occasion and that she and her family have been further distressed as a consequence.

“The urgent care centre staff should have been contacted directly by the receptionist in question or the receptionist should have called 111 - the staff there would, I am sure, have been able to offer more appropriate advice.

“Patients have a right to be treated with respect and dignity. These are fundamental rights which underpin the NHS constitution.”

A spokesperson for Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, which operates the East Lancashire’s memory service in Maple House at Burnley General Hospital, said: “The staff within our Memory Assessment Service quickly reacted to this, providing blankets, gauze and umbrellas to shelter the lady involved. If there is a possibility of a head injury or risk of fracture, it is not advisable for them to be moved until they have been assessed by an appropriate medical professional.

“Our nursing staff stayed with the lady and her granddaughter until the ambulance arrived.”

A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said: “A 999 call was received following reports an elderly lady had fallen outside Burnley General Hospital.

“The nearest available emergency ambulance was dispatched to the scene which, at the time, was in Altham.”

Lynn Wissett, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Nurse for East Lancashire Hospital Trust, said: “The Trust can confirm that we have now made contact with Mrs Shepherd’s family and we are currently investigating the issues that have been raised.”

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