Another family condemns Whittington

A third family has made a serious complaint about the Whittington Hospital's Accident and Emergency department after the Evening Standard revealed how two patients had spent up to five days in the unit before being transferred to ward beds.

All three cases took place over the same weekend, despite an insistence by the hospital and the Government that the Whittington, in Highgate, does not have a problem with care in casualty and had sufficient beds at the time.

On Monday, the Standard told how 94-year-old Rose Addis spent three days in the A&E department, unwashed and caked in blood, before being moved to a ward bed after her family complained about her plight.

Yesterday, we revealed how Sidney Hockley, 88, spent five days in the same unit, some of it in a bed next to Mrs Addis. Relatives said he was left unwashed and in a "horrendous state" for 120 hours before he was transferred to a ward.

Today it emerged that over the same weekend, a 13-year-old boy with meningitis symptoms spent eight-anda-half hours in A&E before he was seen by a doctor.

James Scott-Faulkner from Wood Green spent a night on a trolley in the hospital's casualty department, surrounded by drunks, while his worried parents waited for him to be treated. When a doctor finally saw the teenager, he was immediately prescribed highdose antibiotics for suspected meningococcal septicaemia, which is potentially fatal if not treated immediately.

James was then admitted to a children's ward. The dose of drugs meant doctors could not conduct an accurate test to prove he had meningitis.

He is now recovering at home but still taking antibiotics. His parents are making a formal complaint to the hospital about the length of time their son waited. They claim nurses in A&E on the night spoke of how there were two doctors on duty instead of the expected four.

Nigel Scott, James's father, said today: "I cannot see how it is acceptable to keep a 13-year-boy with such serious symptoms waiting for eight hours before he was given treatment. A nurse told us people can die within an hour unless they get the right drugs."

Mr Scott contacted the Standard after reading about Mrs Addis and Mr Hockley. James fell ill at home on Sunday 13 January, the same day Mrs Addis was taken to the hospital and a day after Mr Hockley arrived at A&E.

When the teenager became feverish, his parents took him to the Whittington's casualty department as they could not get a GP to make a home visit.

Mr Scott said: "We arrived around midnight. There were drunks stumbling about and we were told we would have to wait. A nurse saw James and took down details of his symptoms but then we were just left there for hours. Although the medical care, when he received it, was good, the fact he was immediately given these drugs just raised our concerns about how long we had to wait. My concern is the hospital is clearly being badly managed or is very under-resourced."

A statement from the hospital said: "James was brought to the A&E department at 1.13am on 14 January. He was assessed by a charge nurse within seven minutes, and was found to have a raised temperature and had been vomiting. His parents had given him paracetamol at 9pm.

"James was given Nurofen at 1.45am following which his temperature was re-assessed. As his temperature remained high he was given paracetamol at 3am followed by a further dose of Nurofen at 3.45am. Throughout this time he was nursed in a single cubicle in the main A&E department. His temperature continued to be monitored, and he was otherwise alert and well.

"He was seen by the A&E paediatric nurse at 9.15am who found that two non-blanching spots had appeared on his left foot. He was immediately seen by an A&E consultant who took blood for testing, gave him a precautionary dose of intravenous antibiotics and referred him to the paediatricians.

"James was seen by the paediatrician at 10.10am who noted he was not distressed and was alert. A probable diagnosis of a viral infection was made and it was decided to admit him for observation. James was discharged the following day as his temperature had returned to normal."

Senior hospital managers at the hospital have also defended their treatment of Mrs Addis and Mr Hockley and been backed by Health Secretary Alan Milburn in their insistence patients are being treated appropriately in A&E.

Trust chief executive Trevor Campbell Davis said records showed there were beds available when decisions to treat both patients in the unit adjacent to A&E were made. But he admitted it is common for all its medical beds to be full during winter months.

James Malone-Lee, Professor of Medicine at the trust, said a team of bed managers including medical staff, constantly assesses the demand for beds and said patients were often kept on A&E for observation or to avoid cross-infection. The hospital is about to undergo a £25 million re-build and there are hopes to increase bed numbers by 60 to almost 480.