Stroke victim 'left to freeze in her own urine' after being admitted to hospital

[super jumbe]

Stroke victim: Elsie Keirl in bed at Musgrove Park Hospital

Elsie Keirl, 84, of Taunton, Somerset, was admitted to Musgrove Park on Christmas Eve and her family claim she spent Christmas Day freezing cold

A stroke patient was left lying in urine in a ?freezing? hospital room on Christmas Day, her relatives claim.

Elsie Keirl, 84, of Taunton, Somerset, was admitted to Musgrove Park the previous night.

She had suffered a stroke at her home and her relatives claim nurses failed to turn the pensioner for 10 hours and left her lying in the cold in her own urine.

Son David, 58, said: ?She spent her last Christmas in a freezing cold room with inadequate bedding, lying in her own urine.

"At 11.30am, her lips were blue.?

Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has launched in investigation into the claims.

David said: "At 11.30am and when I walked into the side room of the ward where she was it was absolutely freezing cold, like an ice box.

"Her lips were blue. The radiator was cold and I was told they were on a timer and would come on later."

Following his complaints, Elsie was moved to another room and remains in a "fragile" state.

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said they could not comment while an investigation was under way.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/stroke-victim-left-freeze-urine-4900121

[Snowy79]

My partner works in a care home and gets pissed off with half stories like this. At least three times a month she gets the care commision in her home investigating complaints made by the families of those in the care of the home. In all the years she's been in the business she says only a handful of complaints have any credibility. Her latest complaint came about after she'd saved the life of a woman choking. It's part of best practices that she has to inform the family. When they came in they noticed a chair in the patients room that they never liked and had asked to be removed the week before. As it hadn't been removed they put a complaint in. The patient has dementia and any changes to their environment can make them anxious. It had been explained to the family that the chair had been removed previously but the patient had gone crazy as it wasn't there. She's been crying and getting anxious so they brought it back. Almost instantly the woman calmed down. This wasn't a good enough explanation so the family kicked off. Not one mention was made of how gratefull they were for saving the patient. In the case of this report my partner said her lips at that age and after a stroke will be blue. She also thought it strange that the temperature down South was pretty warm for the time of the year yet it was freezing inside. Also how do they know the length of time the woman was in her own urine? She could have been asked if she needs the toilet said no then due to the stroke wet herself minutes later. At least the family had the common sense to take a picture of their mum looking comfy in pyjamas in a nice bed. They may even have asked for a spare blanket etc for their mum. Unless of course they never visited until the following day as they were that concerned.

[super jumbe]

I am sorry to say against your view as the story read that the radiator in the room suppose to come on with the timer, ffs this was hospital the radiators suppose to be left on 24/7 and she was left in that cold room for 10 hours when staff passing looking at this women dying but did nothing to help.

[GastonJ]

I am sorry to say against your view as the story read that the radiator in the room suppose to come on with the timer, ffs this was hospital the radiators suppose to be left on 24/7 and she was left in that cold room for 10 hours when staff passing looking at this women dying but did nothing to help.

and if a room is at the set temperature the radiator will not feel warm either. Radiators work with temperature controls so when he temperature reaches the predefined limit they turn off, otherwise there'd be no point in controlling the temperature and people would complain of being too hot and getting burnt if they touched the radiator.

[Johnner]

and if a room is at the set temperature the radiator will not feel warm either. Radiators work with temperature controls so when he temperature reaches the predefined limit they turn off, otherwise there'd be no point in controlling the temperature and people would complain of being too hot and getting burnt if they touched the radiator.

That's fine if there's a thermostat in each room/ward.How do you control room temperature,if the stat is buried in the building elsewhere ?

[super jumbe]

I was a plumber once and I have fitted lots of central heating in my life and I know how the system works there is no such a thing as cold room when heating is on.
Ah so the ward has to get to freezing before the timer comes on again what a lot of bulls, I have never been in any hospital ward over the last 35 years with a cold room, there has to be an investigation why she was in that cold ward on her own.

[Snowy79]

I'd wait until the full story comes out before judging but unless the woman turned up in hospital wearing the hospital gown I've got a feeling she has been looked after. I still don't get how a room can be freezing when it's not freezing outside. She's also tucked up in bed with sheets and covers over her. Unless she's been stripping off and laying on top of the sheets chances are she'll still be warm or she'd be suffering from hypothermia, which at her age and following a stroke would be lethal yet there's no mention of that. As for being ignored for ten hours unless someone was watching the room for ten hours how do they know she was ignored. Protocal will ensure she is connected to machines to monitor her pulse, O2 and temp. Depending on what part of her brain the stroke affected will depend on how her body temperature is regulated. Even the headline about her spending her last Christmas in a freezing ward is there to get a reaction. At the end it says she is still alive but in a fragile condition. She's in her 80s and just had a stroke FFS. What do you expect?

[GastonJ]

That's fine if there's a thermostat in each room/ward.How do you control room temperature,if the stat is buried in the building elsewhere ?

Because hospitals use computerised building management systems (such as Trend) that are controlled, and monitored, centrally by their Estates/Facilities Departments to keep the temperature uniform in each ward/office and whatever. Search for "NHS BMS" on google and you'll see Despite the impression of the government, and others, the NHS isn't slow in the takeup of technology and BMS have been in use for decades in the NHS. I know someone who runs one

Some people never let the truth get in the way of a good newspaper headline do they

Even better:

http://www.musgroveparkhospital.nhs.uk/media/179830/APR-Annual-Plan-2012-13-Strategy-Template-FINAL-Public.pdf

If you read that you'll find it. Or even here

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/cpd-13-intelligent-building-management-systems/5056654.article

As Snowy says, wait for the outcome before judging.

[Johnner]

Because hospitals use computerised building management systems (such as Trend) that are controlled, and monitored, centrally by their Estates/Facilities Departments to keep the temperature uniform in each ward/office and whatever. Search for "NHS BMS" on google and you'll see Despite the impression of the government, and others, the NHS isn't slow in the takeup of technology and BMS have been in use for decades in the NHS. I know someone who runs one

Some people never let the truth get in the way of a good newspaper headline do they

Even better:

http://www.musgroveparkhospital.nhs.uk/media/179830/APR-Annual-Plan-2012-13-Strategy-Template-FINAL-Public.pdf

If you read that you'll find it. Or even here

CPD 13: Intelligent Building Management Systems | Magazine Features | Building Design

As Snowy says, wait for the outcome before judging.

Gas,I'm aware of BMS.You can have an singing,all dancing system,if the stat is not there,or not functional,the room ain't gonna be controlled !!


As for judging,I couldn't give a monkey's one way way or the other !!

[GastonJ]

Gas,I'm aware of BMS.You can have an singing,all dancing system,if the stat is not there,or not functional,the room ain't gonna be controlled !!


As for judging,I couldn't give a monkey's one way way or the other !!

and there's 2 ways you find that out.....

1) If it fails and there's an alarm, it will alarm on the system itself and be looked at.
2) If it has no alarm. - someone reports the room as being cold and it will be looked at. Which is what *may* have happened.

But that conflicts with this???

"He went with her to hospital at 9pm and stayed at her side until 6am when he went home until 11am when he returned."

If he was there until 6am wouldn't he have noticed how cold it was sitting in the same room for 9 hours? Could be me, but then again I'm biased in that I believe nothing until I see something other than a newspaper headline,

*doh* @me I forgot the Mirror only carried half the story.....

http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/31/pictured-granny-left-to-lie-in-her-own-urine-on-hospital-bed-5005361/

Larger picture in that one as well.

[super jumbe]

Probably video evidence could not have make much deferent either, when we have some people want to make a point on a person already dead, off the subject but we all saw the video evidence of shooting of unarmed African American dead, and another I can not breath died, did any one got done for it? If the hospital was right my instinct was they would not have asked the authorities for a full investigation, they would have given the parents death certificate she died natural way or end of old age.

[GastonJ]

Probably video evidence could not have make much deferent either, when we have some people want to make a point on a person already dead, off the subject but we all saw the video evidence of shooting of unarmed African American dead, and another I can not breath died, did any one got done for it?

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about *shrug*

If the hospital was right my instinct was they would not have asked the authorities for a full investigation

The CEO asked for an investigation. It's part of the complaint process.

they would have given the parents death certificate she died natural way or end of old age.

Now you got me, I really have no clue what you're talking about.

[super jumbe]

Time to close this thread....
---RIP---