Senior Tory baroness 'forced to wait five hours on hospital trolley while nurses treated drunks'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:


Waiting: Baroness Sharples was left on a trolley at St Thomas' Hospital, London for five hours

Waiting: Baroness Sharples was left on a trolley at St Thomas' Hospital, London for five hours

An 88-year-old Tory baroness waited five hours on a hospital trolley while staff around her dealt with drunks.

Baroness Sharples, a senior member of the Lords since 1973, was stranded in accident and emergency at St Thomas' Hospital in London before a bed was found.

It was an embarrassing admission for the Government as ministers were questioned on the decision to scrap the four-hour target for maximum waits in A&E.

Lady Sharples said she had collapsed after 'overdoing it' last month following a knee replacement operation.

She said: 'The ambulance came in five minutes but I was in hospital on a trolley from 7.45pm to 12.30am.

'I was in a bay in accident and emergency waiting for them to find a bed.

'I was seen by nurses, who I can't fault as they had to deal with all the drunks who I could hear.

'But I wasn't seen by a doctor until after I had a bed.'

She was released the following day after undergoing tests.

Lady Sharples did not tell staff she was a member of the House of Lords.

In response to Lady Sharples' statement, Earl Howe, from the Department of Health, said: 'That does concern me. I don't think that anyone could endorse the practice of patients remaining on trolleys.

'I hope you were seen and attended to in a timely manner but what you describe does not sound to me as though it conforms with good clinical practice.

'The figures I have nationally show that hospitals as a whole are adhering to the new standards that have been set.'

Long wait: The baroness was kept on a trolley in A&E for five hours

Long wait: The baroness was kept on a trolley in A&E for five hours

 Labour's Baroness McDonagh that A & E waiting times were 'rising sharply'.

Lord Howe responded by saying that targets had been replaced 'by a set of clinical quality indicators, incorporating measures of timeliness in April'.

He said: 'The proportion of patients waiting for less than four hours during the four weeks up to April 24 2011 was 96.7 per cent compared to 98.3 per cent in April 2010.

'Our clear advice from clinicians was the four-hour target should be adjusted to reflect case rates and priorities.'

Crossbench peer Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, a former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: 'Until the shortfall of 1,280 A & E consultants is met, the quality indicators will not be met because they require consultant sign off and that they must not be interpreted as rigid targets because of the variability of clinical scenarios.'

Lord Howe said the fact consultants had to sign off on many targets 'in itself should encourage consultant capacity over time'.

 

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