Man left waiting in A&E for hours without explanation

What happened

Mr D had neutropenia (a very low count of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps to fight off infection) and had to be nursed in a room separately on admission to hospital due to the risk of infection to him. After being admitted to A&E, Mr D was sent for an X–ray and his Family were told a room was being prepared for him. However, Mr D was not transferred and the Family found he had remained in A&E and were told that a bed was not available at that time. Mr D was transferred to the ward later the same day having waited some hours in A&E.

Mr D's daughter, Miss D, complained to the Trust about the care given to her father. She said that when her father was transferred to the ward, the ward sister had asked where he had been because the room had been ready for hours. Miss D said the bed manager had not checked and said someone else had needed the room.

The Trust said the room had been available on the ward when Mr D was initially admitted but this changed due to an emergency. The Trust acknowledged that there were failings in communication with Mr D's Family and took action to remind staff of the importance of better communication with families. They apologised for the distress caused to Mr D and his family.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The Trust had taken appropriate action to acknowledge failings and to prevent this happening again where possible. However, it had not investigated the complaint as fully as it could have done. We said it should have contacted the ward sister as part of its investigation to ask for her statement about the events that occurred.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Miss D and explained how it had learnt from her complaint.