Pneumonia patient kept in cold hospital room

The patient was kept in a so-called unconventional care area

A terminally-ill lung cancer patient has complained of spending almost three days in cold side room at an accident and emergency department while she was being treated for pneumonia.

The woman described the room at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) as a "cupboard" and said friends brought her blankets and scarves to keep her warm.

The room is one of a number of so-called unconventional care areas used by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which has been approached for a comment.

The health campaigner and former PRH chief executive, David Sandbach, said these treatment rooms were not designed as spaces for patients to spend long periods of time.

The patient said she was admitted to the hospital in February with breathing difficulties, which later turned out to be pneumonia.

After initially being treated in the acute medical unit and then a respiratory ward, she was asked if she would mind moving to the room.

But she said she never would have agreed to move if she had known where she was going.

She said there were no windows or toilet in the room and was told the air conditioning in the cold room could not be turned off.

SaTH identified 91 unconventional care areas across the two hospitals in November and had plans to reduce this to 30 by March.

These spaces include side rooms, trolleys and chairs and the scheme was approved for use by the county's Integrated Care Board to increase capacity.

But there was an acknowledgment at the time that "the evidence is clear that clinical risk increases with the length of time patients remain in these settings".

The unconventional care areas were intended to take pressure off regular beds

Mr Sandbach said they were "inappropriate areas to do clinical procedures in, or to care for somebody".

He also said treating patients on corridors had become the "new normal" across the country

"It's like putting the white flag up and it does have an effect on the patients," he said.

Mr Sandbach called on management to "think up more innovative ways to get around the problem".

The Integrated Care Board for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin said the hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford continued to be under pressure due to high demand for services and industrial action.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick White said: “On occasion they have patients waiting in unconventional care areas outside the emergency department."

"This is not the level of care they aspire to, and are doing all they can to avoid this," he added.