Elderly patient is bundled out of hospital and sent to hotel with no care for more than a week in Omicron panic, his shocked family say
- Linda Slade’s father was moved to a hotel amid Omicron staff shortages
- He was ‘left for over a week with no care’ and has been apologised to by the NHS
- Slade’s father was being treated for a fall and was moved to a hospital which had been contracted by the NHS to Abicare homecare agency
The family of an elderly patient claim he was moved from a hospital to a hotel and left more than a week without care.
Linda Slade’s father was one of 30 patients who were moved to the hotel following staff shortages and coronavirus concerns in January.
He was being treated for a fall he suffered in December at Southmead Hospital and was moved to Bristol Hotel in January.
Linda claims he was left in his room for eight days with no care at the hospital.
The NHS has since apologised for the situation and says it is ‘committed to giving people the very best care’.
Linda Slade’s father was being treated for a fall in January when he was transferred to Bristol Hotel with just 10 minutes notice and then did not see a healthcare professional for eight days
As the Omicron variant rapidly spread earlier this winter and hospital beds were in high demand, desperate measures were put in place by the NHS.
The Healthier Together Partnership – formed from 10 organisations including NHS hospitals, commissioners, community healthcare providers and local councils – contracted homecare agency Abicare to run a temporary care facility at a central Bristol hotel from December 2021.
Linda’s dad was admitted to Southmead Hospital on December 15 last year for a fall and was being treated for a foot infection and was barely able to walk.
However, on January 3, he was discharged to the Bristol Hotel to recover.
The family say it was eight days after he arrived at the hotel before he was seen by one of the district nurses offering care at the hotel.
Linda said: ‘They were sending patients to the Bristol Hotel with carers from Abicare there to keep an eye on people, they’re not medically trained though, but they’ll serve food and check in on them.
‘They’re very good and doing the best they possibly can, but they’re not medically trained, so they’re a little bit panicked when people need medical attention.
Linda has torn into Southmead Hospital for the appalling treatment of her father by the NHS
‘They’re relying on district nurses to come in once or twice a week to support the patients in the hotel.
‘It was eight days before the first nurses came in to see my dad.’
Upon arrival at the hotel, the care for her father was very poor and nobody was trained for anything, including changing bandages on his infected foot, the family claimed.
She added: ‘The communication is poor, the care people at the hotel had no information at all who they were, what their problems were, what their medical needs were.
‘They’re supposed to look after them but the staff don’t even know what the medical needs are, they didn’t have any reports from Southmead Hospital at all.
‘It’s not the nurse’s fault or the medical care, the administrative system is just a mess for everyone.’
This was the scene when Linda’s father was left for eight days of solo recovery as Omicron made the NHS panic
Linda’s father was being moved into a hotel with just 10 minutes’ notice and the family claim there was no communication of this.
He then had to spend over two weeks at the Bristol Hotel before being discharged on January 18.
Regarding his move to the hotel, Linda added: ‘It was the first I’d heard of it. It was all very surreal, it was a fantastic idea but they were just tossing people out wherever they could.
‘Go, just go, Covid is coming, get out of the hospital, we don’t care where you go, just go, as long as you’re not in the hospital as Covid is about to hit again, that was the message we were getting.
‘I understand it, but the lack of follow-up and care for the people who were being kicked out of the hospital and should have been receiving follow-up care meant that people were being tossed all over the place.’
Linda said: ‘He was discharged on four different days, by four different discharge nurses to four different places.
‘My poor dad, his little light went out really. He was going home then suddenly he was back in bed in the hospital.
‘I literally thought he was going to give up at that point as he was so excited to be going home.’
A spokesperson for the NHS in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire said: ‘We’re so sorry to hear about the gentleman’s experience, which has come at a time of intense pressure on our services caused by staff shortages and a big rise in patients with Covid.
‘Even when we’re extremely busy we are absolutely committed to giving people the very best care and will be urgently reviewing this case to take any necessary action.’
Abicare has been approached for comment.
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