By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
A Gloucestershire resident has spoken out about his “shocking and distressing” experience after being admitted to hospital earlier this year.
Clarke Richards, 68, who lives near Moreton-in-Marsh, was admitted to the accident and emergency department at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a broken hip on March 12.
He said he was so incensed about the standards of care and treatment that he experienced and witnessed with other patients that he wished to tell the public about it.
“What I experienced personally as well as what I witnessed of how other patients fared was both shocking and distressing,” he said.
“Having waited several hours for a bed to become available I was eventually wheeled into the ward and told that I was scheduled for surgery the next day and so would be nil by mouth from midnight.
“I didn’t get a wink of sleep on my first night mainly because of the loud and incessant rantings of an 86-year-old patient opposite me who had dementia as well as a broken hip.
“Although a lot of it was unintelligible, frequent calls of ‘help me’ suggested clear signs of distress and that he really needed physical attention.
“I repeatedly pressed the help button on my bed to summon the young male nurse who eventually appeared a few minutes later.
“He checked the man over somewhat fleetingly but as he walked away he turned to the 84 year old in the bed next to me, also with a broken hip and said to him ’keep an eye on him will you?’
“I couldn’t believe my ears – since when did the responsibilities of patient care devolve from the salaried fit and able to the elderly, retired and incapacitated?
“The man with dementia eventually got to sleep while I lay awake some while wondering what might become of him and also anxiously anticipating my own hip replacement surgery scheduled for the following morning.
“Morning broke but my operation did not materialise – the hand specialist, yes, really, who reviewed my case implied that my procedure was rather more complex than the norm because I had previously had a hip resurfacing operation.
“He actually asked me to find out what size my previous hip resurfacing implant was – as if it were some automotive spare part or DIY tool.
“At this juncture I decided it was time to get out of this dreadful place where the standards of care and compassion are appalling and the clinical expertise I experienced was sub standard. I am determined to seek private care elsewhere. The-86-year-old in the next bed to me was actually on his fourth operation – two out of the first three had gone wrong so that was another good reason for discharging myself.
“I overheard his surgeon guffawing and swearing coarsely during his pre-op review and it was as if he were addressing a worthless piece of meat rather than a human being with dignity. Meanwhile the man with dementia went into theatre that same day. He was wheeled back out into the ward at about 6pm and we all thought his semi-comitose state under anaesthetic would grant us a peaceful night’s sleep. No such luck.
“I woke with a jerk to hear the man in the bed next to me shouting His own name and ‘stop it’ and calling for the nurse. The patient was clearly not in control of himself since he was trying to dislodge just about every life-supporting wire and tube he could lay his hands on – drip, catheter and heart monitor, the lot.
“I joined my own voice to that of my neighbour in a chorus appealing for urgent help and I also repeatedly pressed my help button but to no avail. After a longer period of time than you would expect, the young male nurse appeared looking somewhat flustered.
“I asked him angrily what had taken him so long and he mumbled some feeble excuse about having a lot of patients to deal with. I shouted at him ‘You might get to his [the patient next to him’s] age one day and I can tell you it’s not pretty. Surely you can see that this man needs help?
“You have a duty of care to your patients and you need to sharpen up and do your job properly’. My voice was so loud with rage they probably heard me several wards’ away but I didn’t care as I was so livid at the uncaring indifference of this young nurse who frankly might have been better suited to menial work than a theoretically caring profession.
“My outburst seemed to have had some effect because a female nurse was assigned to his bedside for the remainder of the night. During my stay and In a moment of leisure when I had felt well enough to hobble around the corridor on my crutches to look at the rest of the ward I immediately noticed a lady on the women’s ward slumped over her table with nobody attending to her so I grabbed the nearest nurse and pointed them in her direction.
“It was an even more distressing story as I passed the open doors in the private rooms where I saw one lady sleeping that unique deep sleep between life and death. Peeping out from the bedclothes beside her was a teddy bear. In the next room down was an elderly gentleman who was completely yellow and woefully thin.
“Meanwhile, passing another room I found a group of nurses chatting away, completely oblivious to the needs of their patients. I managed to discharge myself from the hospital the next morning but not without a tussle with the ward sister who was adamant that it would take four hours for me to get my discharge papers.
“The surgical staff had told me that all I needed for discharge was clearance from physio that I was OK to move about, which I got relatively quickly, despite my broken hip. Shortly afterwards, and just as I had packed my things and booked my taxi, a nurse popped her head in to tell me that there was just my medication to sort out. She said I needed a blood thinning injection.
“There had been no mention of this at all before so I flatly refused on principle. When my discharge papers were taking unduly long, I pressed the surgeon to speed things up a bit and he finally agreed but insisted that If I discharged myself it was at my own risk since I had refused my medication.
“Latterly ,when I obtained private care my hip surgeon actually congratulated me on refusing the blood thinning injection as he said this is only needed after surgery and not before.
“Having witnessed the kind of negligence other patients suffered my own experience was relatively minor – the nurse that fitted my cannula the first time put it the wrong place and I dripped blood all over the floor; my urine bottle wasn’t emptied frequently enough and a new one brought despite desperate and repeated calls on my help button so I had to resort to the water jug as a substitute.
“Overall I was given no treatment plan, no timeline for surgery and no clarity as to what procedure I would undergo nor which surgeon would carry it out. When I left, they promised to get back to me by phone the following Tuesday but it was not until the following Thursday that I heard anything, by which time I had already made provision to go private.
“I made my way slowly down the corridor on my crutches, stopping every few paces to shuffle my overnight bag along the floor with my good foot and I counted at least 15 people who walked straight past me before someone finally offered to help. It was a similar story when I got downstairs until finally some kind nurse put me in a wheelchair and got me to the discharge lounge. From then on at least someone made sure my taxi driver came to the right place to pick me up.
“When I finally got into the taxi and we pulled away out of the hospital compound and onto the back streets of Gloucester I felt an immense sense of relief that I had escaped from a potentially dangerous experience.
“From my own limited observations there weren’t enough properly organised routines or procedures, there was inadequate training, poor or non-existent leadership and nursing staff largely recruited without any experience of life, lacking the ability to show compassion and imbued with a general apathy as if they thought they couldn’t make a difference to the later lives of elderly and suffering human beings.”
A Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said they were sorry to hear of Mr Richards’ experience. They said they take all patient feedback seriously, especially when it highlights concerns about care, communication, or the hospital environment.
“We are sorry to hear that Mr Richards’ experience at our hospital did not meet the standards we expect. Mr Richards attended our Emergency Department in March, where a hip fracture, believed to have developed over several months, was confirmed following an MRI,” a spokesperson said.
“He was admitted the same day, and surgery was initially anticipated for the following day. However, after clinical review and discussions with staff, Mr Richards chose to discharge himself the next day before surgery could take place. We take all patient feedback seriously, especially when it highlights concerns about care, communication, or the hospital environment.
“We would welcome the opportunity to look into Mr Richards’ experience in more detail and encourage him to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), who can support a full review and ensure any necessary learning is shared with our teams”.