Chronically ill woman taken to wrong nursing home

A MAN whose chronically ill wife was taken by ambulance from Worcestershire Royal Hospital to the wrong nursing home has told of his distress on discovering his wife had been "lost".

Brian Else was distraught when his wife, Margaret, who suffers from chronic emphysema and needs oxygen 24 hours a day, was taken to Lickey Hills Nursing Home in Bromsgrove - instead of Lickhill Manor Nursing Home in Stourport.

The mistake came to light when the 66-year-old woman's daughter, Dawn Cunnington, telephoned the hospital from the care home in Stourport, where she and her father were waiting, at around 6pm, and was told her mother should have arrived.

She was then asked to hang on by the confused nurse, who returned to inform her that her mother was 18 miles away in Barnt Green, Bromsgrove.

It was not until three-and-a-half hours later that a "very, very confused" Mrs Else arrived at the correct nursing home.

The distressing sequence of events, on Good Friday, has prompted a change in the discharge process operated by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and a spokesman admitted the wrong nursing home's name was written on Mrs Else's discharge paper.

He apologised and said it would make sure full addresses were written on discharge papers in future to prevent a similar mistake happening again.

Mrs Cunnington said it had taken her mother, who had been in hospital for around six weeks with a severe chest infection, a couple of days to settle down after the ordeal.

She added her father had also been left "very distressed". She explained her mother had been due to be discharged at 2.30pm but it was not until 4.30pm that an ambulance arrived.

She said she and her father initially arrived at the Stourport home to meet her at around 3.15pm and returned at around 5pm.

The childminder, of Beauchamp Avenue, Kidderminster, added: "At 5.45pm the matron asked me to phone the hospital to see whether she'd left."

That was when she discovered her mother had been sent to the wrong nursing home.

"The ward sister said she'd just had a phone call from Lickey Hills to say my mum had arrived and why was she there when she shouldn't be?"

Her father added: "My wife needs oxygen 24 hours a day and didn't know what was going on. Neither did we and I just broke down and cried my eyes out because I'd lost her.

"Then I found out she was at Lickey Hills and it was even worse because I thought 'what's she doing in Birmingham?'"

The clinical care manager of Lickey Hills Nursing Home, Christine Cooper, told the Shuttle/Times and News that she had been contacted by Worcestershire Royal Hospital on the morning of the error and she had explained that Lickey Hills was not expecting Mrs Else.

She said a Lickey Hills senior sister reiterated this message when ambulance staff phoned at around 5.30pm, asking for directions, but claimed they were "insistent" that Mrs Else should be taken there.

When the crew arrived, she said they asked for a wheelchair and had to leave while a member of staff was phoning around to find out why Mrs Else was there and where she should have been taken.

Mrs Cooper's comments came after Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service spokeswoman, Jenny Procter, said the ambulance crew left after staff at Barnt Green accepted her with "no indication" that she was in the wrong place.

She added: "We now understand that this was not the correct nursing home and that this caused distress to Mrs Else and her family.

"This is very regrettable and we would be happy to discuss any aspect of the incident with Mrs Else."