A woman whose step-dad’s final hours were “disturbed” by another patient who “burst into his cubicle and demanded to know why they were there” has recorded a video for East Lancashire Hospital’s Trust patient story process.

The video, created by Sue Martin, is entitled ‘The night the NHS threw me out’, and in it she tells of her ordeal on the night her step-dad died at Royal Blackburn Hospital in the hope that what she experienced “doesn’t happen to somebody else”.

The video will now be used by the Trust at meetings and staff training sessions to help the Trust understand the experiences of patients, relatives and carers and the impact of the services it delivers.

Sue’s step-dad Barrie Ibbetson, was admitted to Royal Blackburn Hospital before Christmas following a fall at his home in Colne.

Sue, who lives just outside Cambridge, had been driving up regularly to visit him and on Friday January 5, was contacted by his carer to say his condition had worsened and he was unlikely to survive the weekend.

As Barrie slipped away in hospital that night, Sue said a patient on the ward who had been causing a disturbance all evening, burst through the cubicle curtains, and demanded to know why they were in there.

READ MORE: Dying man's final hours disturbed by 'nuisance patient' at hospital

Sadly, Barrie died at 10.10pm on Friday January 5, but Sue claims that half an hour later she was told she had to gather Barrie’s belongings and leave the hospital.

Sue claimed she was “booted unceremoniously out of the hospital,” just 30 minutes after her stepfather passed away.

She complained to the Trust and the Lancashire Telegraph and received an apology from Jed Pollard-Walton, deputy chief nurse at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, who said: “There is no apology I can make that will lessen the pain felt by Barrie's family following his death. We are sorry his family felt his final hours were not as peaceful as they could have been.”

Not satisfied with the apology, Sue then took the matter further and was finally asked by Melissa Almond, senior patient experience facilitator from quality governance unit, to present a short video to assist in staff training.

Ms Almond said the Trust: “Want to hear about the experience of patients (good and bad) so we can identify ways to continue to improve our services for patients, carers, and staff. We have found that short video/audio stories, focussing on what was good, what was not so good and what could be done better to improve the patient/relative/carer experience, have the most impact when shared with staff”.

In the video, Sue explains what happened on the night Barrie died and how she was treated at the hospital, and now hopes the video will be used for good and said: “I am hoping that lessons have now been learnt at Royal Blackburn Hospital and that my video will be used in training as promised, to encourage empathy and an ability to look further into a situation before making a rash judgement.

"A safe place should be available within the hospital such as the Chapel or a waiting room for someone to collect their thoughts and rest for a few hours.

"I accept that this was an unusual situation but surely not unique.

"The nurses on the ward were absolutely wonderful and very caring, I cannot praise them enough."

Barrie Ibbetson’s funeral was held on February 2 at Helliwells Chapel in Colne, with Sue adding; “The chapel was filled with all of his friends, there was standing room only. It was very befitting for such a wonderful gentleman.”

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has been contacted for further comment.