Retired surgeon slams Welsh Government and Health Board after elderly woman dies in A&E corridor

Richard Evans, Local democracy reporter

A retired surgeon has described the “terrible circumstances” in which an elderly lady died alone in a hospital corridor, slamming both the health board and Welsh Government for not doing enough to end corridor care.

Earlier this week, Nadia Wainwright from Henllan described the moment she saw an elderly lady pass away in the A&E corridor at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd without anyone holding her hand.

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s executive director of nursing and midwifery, Angela Wood, said everyone fully understood the “concern and anxiety” such incidents caused.

Jonathan Osborne FRCS, a former ear, nose, and throat surgeon at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, has criticised his former employer and has been campaigning to increase the number of beds at community hospitals.

The retired surgeon said the tragic death in A&E was “typical” of the situation in North Wales.

He said: “I’m very sad to hear about this lady who died in terrible circumstances in an A&E corridor, and it is sadly typical of the situation where patients need admission and can be kept for days in the corridor – sometimes up to six days – and they get no proper care.

“They have no proper access to toilets. They can become incontinent. They can develop bed sores and other conditions, and they are totally neglected, as this poor lady was.”

Mr Osborne then explained there could soon be more beds available at Abergele Community Hospital, as an orthopaedic department was moving to Llandudno Hospital.

He also suggested smaller hospitals in Wrexham and Gwynedd might also be used to provide extra beds.

He added: “At the end of the day, we’ve been pressing the health board as hard as we can, and the Welsh Government, to alleviate this pressure by providing step-down care in community hospitals,” he said.

“There are a number of community hospitals – Penley and Tywyn – and shortly there will be beds available in Abergele (Hospital) where they don’t have to spend any capital money and they can open these.

“But they are resolutely opposed to doing anything about the situation, and it is an absolute public scandal that they are not taking more action to deal with this when they say that the A&E situation is their number one priority and they have not improved it one jot.”

He added: “The Welsh Government needs to admit there is a serious scandal, and it also needs to do something that is effective.

“They said they’ve sent their top team there to improve things, and it hasn’t improved whatsoever; so there is a total lack of political will to do anything about the A&E situation, as opposed to trying to get the waiting list down when they are sending people off for private care in England at a great cost.”

Ms Wood said: “We want to be clear that providing care with dignity, compassion, and respect is fundamentally important to us.

“Corridor care is not something we want for our patients, and we fully understand the concern and anxiety it can cause when people see this happening.

“We recognise that witnessing a medical emergency or a patient who is critically unwell can be deeply upsetting for families, other patients, and members of the public.”

The Welsh Government said they were still “seeking assurance”from the health board but that “delivery of care in undesignated or non-clinical environments is not acceptable”.