Woman with broken neck spent 18 hours in corridor at Wrexham Maelor

Yvonne Jones, from Pantymwyn, near Mold, had suffered a double neck break after falling in the garden.

The 82-year-old's daughter, Michelle Bradford, took her to Maelor Hospital Emergency Department (ED) following the incident on Wednesday, June 5.

“When we arrived at 9.30pm, it was Armageddon in there,” Mrs Bradford said. “It was horrific – more than 100 people were waiting in A&E.”

Mrs Bradford claims her mum was only given a couple of pain-relief tablets in the 11 hours she spent in ED before being sent for a CT scan. 

Having seen a triage nurse after 90 minutes, she says Mrs Jones was told at 11.25pm she faced a nine-hour wait to see a doctor. Mrs Bradford said another elderly lady with broken ribs was on a stretcher nearby, and more arrived over the course of the night.

“Mum was in agony, any slight movement caused her significant pain," Mrs Bradford said. "She was desperate to go to the toilet, worried she would wet herself, but there was no help.

"A homeless woman on a drip was shouting to go to the loo. All the while there was a constant stream of people going past in the narrow corridor.

“It was hell on earth. What got me was seeing five police officers bringing in a young man with a cut head. As the officers waited outside, he was treated while an 82-year-old woman lay in a corridor with a broken neck.

“A woman caring for her mother took off her coat and revealed herself as a nurse. She told us the standard of care was totally unacceptable and that my mother was being neglected.”

Mrs Bradford said her mum was seen by a medical professional shortly before 9am on Thursday, June 6. Mrs Jones was soon told she had broken her neck in two places.

Mrs Jones received morphine and was returned to the corridor, this time with a neck brace. Inquiries were made for Mrs Jones to be transferred to the major trauma centre at the Royal Stoke Hospital.

“I’d been advised to take Mum to Wilmslow instead and I bitterly regret going to the Maelor,” she said. “More than 19 hours after arriving at the hospital with a broken neck, she was finally moved from the corridor to a side room."

Mrs Bradford said her mum was on a stretcher in the corridor until 5pm on Thursday when she was moved to a side room. It was 3am (Friday) when Mrs Jones was transferred to a ward. 

Yvonne Jones waited 18 hours for a bed. (Image: UGC)

On Monday afternoon (June 10), Mrs Jones was discharged and told to come back in three months – later cut to two weeks with two follow-up appointments after her family complained over the length of time.

The hospital’s occupational team had visited already, installing a bed frame so Mrs Jones could sit up in bed. 

“I have bad memories of that hospital and I won’t go back there if I can help it,” Mrs Bradford said. “The nurses were lovely but I’ve been badly affected by the treatment of my mother and other people there. I feel much more comfortable now she's back home."

Mrs Bradford said her mum is thankfully now feeling better, but still has pain. She will wear a neck brace for the next three months. 

Dr Jim McGuigan, Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board's deputy executive medical director, said: “We sincerely apologise for this patient’s experience and that of her daughter. I want to assure the public we treat patients in order of clinical need, not by order of how long they have been waiting. This means we treat the sickest at any given moment and we continually reassess clinical need as more patients arrive.”

“The delays within our EDs are symptomatic of two things, in the main. Firstly, we are seeing far more people arriving with higher acuity (severity), despite primary care seeing increasing numbers of patients. This means we are seeing more people with more serious conditions since the Covid pandemic.

“Secondly, we continue to have significant issues with safely discharging people who we consider to be medically fit to leave our hospitals. This means we often do not have enough free beds within the main hospital to allow us to move those patients who need one, out of ED. This adds to the pressure on ED staff and contributes to why you will often see patients waiting in corridors or cubicles at busy times.

He added: “There are a number of complex factors which cause these delayed discharges. One of them is a lack of resource and capacity within the social care sector. We are continually looking at ways to help alleviate capacity issues, along with our local authority partners, the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust and the third sector, so we can reduce waiting times and free up ambulances to work within our communities.

“Primary care and the community nursing teams do vital work with local authorities and private care providers, so patients can leave hospital safely. Community teams also provide some of that interim care so that hospitals can discharge patients who are medically fit. We face complex issues in our hospitals and our communities and ED is a symptom of the pressures we face, not the cause.”

Dr McGuigan urged patients with concerns about their care to contact the health board’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS can be contacted on 03000 851234 or via email at BCU.PALS@wales.nhs.uk.