Wednesday 9 February 2011

Colchester Hospital vs Military Hospital

Sapper Ashley-James Hall, 20, whose legs were blown off in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was being treated in Colchester General Hospital for suspected meningitis.

He is now being treated in isolation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where injured troops are cared for.

He still has open wounds from the explosion and has contracted a bacterial infection in his legs.

According to the family, the infection is similar to MRSA and means he must be kept in isolation. However, staff at Colchester General Hospital wanted to put him back on a general ward.
/facepalm
Dad Stephen said: “He has got an infection in his legs and it was felt by us the hospital could not deal with his injuries. So he discharged himself.

“Military care is better than the NHS. You ask for something to be done on the NHS and it takes hours.”
If it happens at all, that is.
Mr Hall said: “At Colchester one set of doctors tells you one thing, then another set say something different.

“Ashley was not happy with his care.

“Ashley has an Afghan bug similar to MRSA, but they were trying to put him in with the general public on a general ward.

“We were having to shout and scream at them.

“He is in an infection control ward in Birmingham.

“Colchester doesn’t have the same medical facilities. We were dealing with new doctors all the time. It was just appalling.”
The family have angered the hospital by going to the media.

A hospital trust spokescreature whines:
Mark Prentice, a spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are disappointed that Mr Stephen Hall has concerns about the care given to his son Ashley-James but also that he has chosen to raise them directly with the media and not with us.

“We would urge him to contact the trust as soon as possible so that we can thoroughly investigate and report back to him.”
And will you find that their concerns are well-founded in that investigation?
“As a result of Mr Hall contacting the Gazette, we have carried out a brief, preliminary investigation which indicates that the care given to Ashley-James was entirely appropriate at all times during his recent stay on the emergency assessment unit at Colchester General Hospital.”
That’ll probably be a ‘no’ then…

1 comment:

ukFred said...

Some things will never change. Expecting almost anyone who works in the public sector to admit they are wrong is futile. I had a complaint, several years ago now, which had gone to the local government ombudsman, and all I was asking for was an apology, but I was asked verbally, the local authority and the ombudsman refused to put it in writing, if I would accept a family holday as compensation in lieu of the apology.