Man, 91, dies after being sent home from hospital despite family's plea

A 91-year-old man was kept in hospital for two nights without a bed before dying shortly after being sent home, his family has said.

David Edward Roberts, from Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, attended Glan Clwyd Hospital on 30 January after his GP flagged "very concerning" blood test results and said he required "urgent hospital admission".

His family claim that after spending two nights in a wheelchair and reclining chair in A&E, they were told he could be discharged to his home where he lived alone, with no support, monitoring, or follow-up arrangements.

A health board spokesperson said it took "concerns of this nature very seriously" and that they will be "fully investigated".

David's family said he was "extremely vulnerable", suffered from type two diabetes, severe kidney disease, significant hearing impairment, incontinence and poor eyesight.

After arriving at the hospital in Bodelwyddan at 20:15 GMT, David's family was told it would be a 16-hour wait to see a doctor.

The family claims he was triaged at 21:15, blood was taken at 00:15, and he saw a doctor at 10:15 the following morning.

In a letter of complaint from his daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Mike Gadsby, the family said David remained in the waiting area "with no option of a bed".

"We requested somewhere more suitable for him to wait and were offered a vacant doctor's room, which, although private, was still highly unsuitable for a frail, elderly man in his condition," they added.

The family said the doctor who saw David insisted he needed to remain in hospital but, as no beds were available, he was kept in a wheelchair near the toilets.

The family added: "Due to his incontinence, we had to remain near toilet facilities, with no dignity or privacy."

David was then given antibiotics and had further blood tests before doctors agreed he needed to stay in hospital overnight.

The family's letter of complaint said as there were no beds available for David, they managed to find a reclining chair "in an attempt to make him more comfortable".

At 08:00 on Sunday 1 February they were told David could be discharged.

They claimed that prior to his discharge they made it clear to the doctor that no-one could stay with David once he returned home as they lived an hour away.

Describing themselves as "pensioners ourselves", they said they explained they would need to leave him "in order to return to our own home to take our medication".

Despite this, they allege he was discharged without any additional support, monitoring, or follow-up arrangements.

The following day, the couple returned to take David to a pre-arranged foot clinic appointment when they found him unresponsive in bed with his eyes closed, foaming at the mouth and breathing faintly.

They immediately called 999 and were instructed to begin CPR until paramedics arrived.

He was taken to hospital on Monday lunchtime but died at 18:00 on Tuesday evening.

• Official figures for January showed that Glan Clwyd hospital had its busiest January in more than a decade for attendances at its A&E.
• The average wait was six hours 56 minutes, the highest of all major emergency units in Wales, and compared to an average of four hours 19 minutes
• There were more than 1,700 patients waiting 12 hours or more - the most in a month on record for the hospital.
• The performance against its target for patients waiting less than four hours to be seen was the worst on record in January

In the letter, the family said they believed the duty of care provided to David, "given his age, frailty, and complex medical conditions, was wholly inadequate".

"We are deeply distressed that he was discharged without appropriate safeguards despite our explicit statement that he would be alone," they added.

The family has now requested a full investigation into the care and decision-making surrounding his treatment and discharge after making an official complaint to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

The family said a post-mortem examination had revealed David died of a heart problem but said they were yet to hear from the health board.

Chris Lynes, deputy executive director of nursing and midwifery at the health board, said: "We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Mr Roberts' family at this very difficult time.

"Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to comment on the specific details of an individual patient's care. However, we take concerns of this nature very seriously and will ensure the issues raised are fully investigated.

"We will be contacting the family directly to discuss their concerns further."

The complaint follows patients at Glan Clwyd's A&E department who said they witnessed an elderly woman dying alone in the corridor last week.