Royal Gwent Hospital sorry after OAP spends night on a trolley (From South Wales Argus)

Royal Gwent Hospital sorry after OAP spends night on a trolley

11:20am Monday 8th October 2012 in News By Chris Wood, Reporter

APOLOGY: The Royal Gwent Hospital where an 80- year-old man was left on a trolley overnight without a blanket or proper meal

AN 80-YEAR-old man was left in a hospital trolley bay overnight without a blanket or proper meal.

After being admitted to Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital last Tuesday, the pensioner, who suffers from diabetes and was being tested for a possible cancer, was left waiting overnight for a bed to become available.

His outraged daughter accused officials of letting everybody down, saying the hospital is at ‘meltdown’ with the standard of care comparable to a third world country.

The Aneurin Bevan Health Board has since apologised to the man and his family.

The 52-year-old woman was shocked to find her dad, who doesn’t want to be named, wasn’t the only person spending the night in the trolley bay, with another 14 people crammed in, she claimed.

Her dad had arrived at the hospital’s medical assessment unit at around 3pm on Tuesday, with his daughter describing him as ‘elderly and unstable’.

He was given a sandwich at 5.45pm, before being seen by consultants, with X-rays and tests done at around 7pm.

His daughter said: “I left at 10pm when there were no beds available and he spent the night on a trolley. There were no blankets, they just gave him a sheet. But, he wasn’t the only one, there were 15 people on trolleys altogether.

“It wasn’t comfortable or even a peaceful area, it was a hive of activity with people in and out.”

The pensioner was found a bed on Wednesday, but his daughter complained, saying: “The standard of care was like a third world country, there should be a major investigation.

It seems the hospital is at meltdown and they’re letting everyone down.”

A spokesman for the Aneurin Bevan Health Board said a complaint was received from the man’s family about admissions through the medical assessment unit.

He added: “On occasions patients do experience delays when a bed on a ward that specialises in their condition is not readily available.

Concerns were also raised in relation to the availability of blankets.

“It appears that the family could have been misinformed as blankets were available, but additional supplies needed to be sent to the unit due to high numbers of admissions that evening.

“We have given the family a full explanation and have offered our sincere apologies.”