A HEREFORDSHIRE woman has said she was left frightened she would not leave hospital alive after being admitted with a broken hip.

Clare Griffiths was taken into Hereford County Hospital on November 4 after falling at home.

An X-ray confirmed the 47-year-old had suffered a broken hip, and she was taken into surgery the next day.

RELATED NEWS:

But, Ms Griffiths said, while she could not praise paramedics and staff in the A&E and x-ray department highly enough, things went downhill when she was taken to Redbrook Ward.

Ms Griffiths, whose fracture was treated with an implant which allows the bone to mend, was given a booklet explaining the after-care for a full hip replacement by an on-call occupational therapist, leading her to believe she had undergone the procedure.

But when seen by a physiotherapist two days later, she was told this was not the case.

"She told me that I had not had a hip replacement at all. It turns out that I had a dynamic hip screw," she said.

"The care for that is completely different, I should have been up and moving."

Ms Griffiths, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2017, was told by therapists that she should be sat out of bed for a maximum of an hour, but said she was left sitting in her chair for almost four hours one day, despite asking three nurses to help her to bed.

She said she was also left for hours without being helped to brush her teeth.

"I did not see nurses for hours," she said.

"I felt alone and vulnerable."

And while the mum, of Highmore Street, Hereford, was able to get out of bed with assistance, she has been left with a pressure sore that was not referred to the district nurses on discharge.

"I could not use a bed pan due to my tremors, and I was told to go to the toilet in the bed," she said.

"They were giving me a tub of water to wash with and leaving me with that but not coming back and helping me finish."

She  also repeatedly had to tell staff that she cannot lie flat on her back due to her MS, something she said should have been written on her information board.

She was discharged from hospital on November 12 and was met at her home by daughter Chloe and son-in-law Jake, who were horrified to find she had been sent home without being washed after going to the toilet.

A promised care package had not been arranged, with Chloe forced to take time off from work to care for her mum for a week after her discharge.

Ms Griffiths, who said there were a couple of 'exceptional' healthcare assistants on the ward, said she believed there were not enough staff and that she had received an apology from the ward sister.

"Since I have been out of hospital, the community care has been top rate," she said.

"The district nurses have been amazing and the therapists could not be more helpful. It was my occupational therapist who told the district nurses about my pressure sore.

"I am lucky to have family and friends, but what about those people who do not?

"I do not want this to happen to anyone else and I feel it's my duty to put this out there, it's disgraceful."

She has made a formal complaint to Wye Valley NHS Trust.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "The safe care and treatment of our patients is our priority and we are sorry to hear that the level of care fell below that which was expected.

"We are aware of the concerns that have been raised by the family.

"We take these concerns seriously and have already begun an investigation into the care that Clare received both while in hospital and following her discharge to see what lessons can be learnt.

"We will share the results of our investigation with the family and advise them of any course of action we will take as a result."