Daughter blasts hospital’s ‘appalling’ care of her mother, 94

A hospital chief has been forced to apologise for a series of failings in the “appalling” care of a 94-year-old woman.

Former nurse Lynne Hambleton said she was ashamed of the nursing profession after her mum was left a prisoner in her own home following the widow’s treatment at the Newcastle hospital where she trained.

Nearly-blind Edith Jamieson, from Newcastle, was left for hours without food or liquids on a bed in a noisy ward and was unable to get to the toilet at the city’s Freeman hospital.

In one episode, blind Mrs Jamieson started shrieking and attacked a nurse because of hallucinations caused by strong painkiller Tramadol, her daughter said.

Doctors did not tell Mrs Hambleton her mother was on the drug but continued with seven more doses even after she suffered the severe hallucinations, said Mrs Hambleton of Alnwick, Northumberland.

She said: “I could hear her screaming down the corridor. When I got there she was having hallucinations. She was in a terrible state. She was scared witless. I will never forget that, never.”

Mrs Jamieson had been an independent woman, capable of cooking with the help of family and travelling on buses and trains alone, despite being almost completely blind.

But her ordeal started after she tripped on a paving stone in March.

Her daughter took her to a walk-in clinic and she was taken by ambulance to the city’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. She was later transferred to the Freeman.

Mrs Jamieson had to wait nearly two hours before being assessed and, once given a bed, was left without food for two days, her daughter said.

She said: “There was no insight at all into her blindness and, because of that and mobility problems, she couldn’t get to the toilet or ring the call bell for a nurse.

“In a resolution meeting after I complained, I questioned how often the nurses patrolled the area at night.

“They told me that there would be a patrol at 2am but if someone wanted to go to the toilet at 2.10am, they would have to wait an hour

and 50 minutes until the next patrol. I don’t think that is acceptable.”

Since Mrs Jamieson was discharged, she has been living with her daughter, who is providing round-the-clock care.

She said her elderly mother was now scared to go out.

Mrs Hambleton said: “Before she was in hospital she was very independent. Since then, she has not gone out because she seems too scared. She has gradually gone downhill.

“She’s worried about being left alone and cannot be left at all now.

“Her care was appalling. It makes me ashamed to call myself a nurse.”

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust said Mrs Jamieson had been offered a sandwich on her first night in the hospital, but she had declined.

In a statement, chief executive Sir Leonard Fenwick, said “lessons were learnt” by the hospital following meetings with Mrs Hambleton and a thorough review.

Sir Leonard said: “I apologised unreservedly that the most reasonable of expectations were simply not met.

“At the outset, I recognised and spoke of there being no excuse whatsoever that such a series of manifest failings were encountered.”

His statement added: “The lead Consultant Physician advised directly in personal correspondence with Mrs Hambleton to clarify

a misunderstanding that

had arisen in relation to drugs that were prescribed and which she felt brought about hallucinations and to allay fears.”