Elderly Patient Left On Trolley For Hours

A South Coast hospital's launched an investigation after a 90-year-old dementia patient was left for nearly five hours on a trolley in a corridor awaiting treatment.

Pam Bailey, from Fareham, went to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Portsmouth, suffering from a water infection, vomiting and dehydration.

She was handed over by the ambulance crew to staff at the accident and emergency department at 6.20pm and was left waiting until after 11pm to be seen in a treatment room.

The former Women's Royal Naval Servicewoman said that she was left shaken by the ordeal.

She said: ''I'm pretty shaken up, it felt like years off my life.

I think they owe us something but I don't know what it is.

Sorry would be a nice word for them to say to everybody.''

Now Mrs Bailey has made a formal complaint to the hospital concerning the wait and her subsequent treatment.

A Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust spokeswoman said: ''Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust aspires for all patients to receive treatment in a timely way according to their clinical need.

We make every effort to ensure patient experience is of a high standard and place patients at the centre of everything we do.

We strive to ensure that patients coming into the Emergency Department (ED) are seen within four hours of arrival, however we have recently experienced an unprecedented increase in attendances to the department.

We are unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality.''