Gloucestershire health kit delays 'leading to patient suffering'

Peter is one of many patients who has experienced delays in receiving their equipment

End-of-life patients being cared for at home are having to wait for bedsore-relieving equipment, one family member has said.

Sally's husband Peter, 94, who has been bedbound for the past year-and-a-half with dementia, requires a specialist mattress.

She said an order for one was made three months ago but it did not reach the service provider until 18 November.

Gloucestershire County Council said there was a global issue with stock.

Gloucestershire Industrial Services (GIS), a county council service, said it had problems with getting supplies caused in part by Brexit.

GIS said it typically responds to 90% of orders within a week.

Sally said she spent most of her time looking after her husband

Sally said: "I am sure there are people that are even more desperate cases than he [Peter] is, waiting for the kinds of equipment that make a tremendous difference.

"The nurses keep telling me they have these delays with all sorts of equipment now."

She said eventually a new mattress arrived without notice last week, making it impossible to transfer Peter from his old one.

"His skin is becoming like tissue paper and is just wearing away," she said.

A Gloucestershire nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Patients are at risk because the hospital beds come with pressure relieving mattresses and the whole point is to stop getting pressure sores which can actually kill people."

"I have end-of-life patients and I have ordered beds for them and they are not coming. Usually they come within 24 hours...

"It is taking over a week now for them to come," she added.

Sally looks after Peter at their home in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Council said it dealt with about a thousand orders for equipment per week.

In a statement the authority said: "This is a worldwide problem affecting all providers of equipment, commercial or otherwise, and it is also impacting on stock availability in Gloucestershire."

Sarah Scott executive director of adult social care and public health at the council, said: "We know that there are delays on quite a few pieces of equipment, some of them are stuck in containers in the wrong parts of the world, there are other issues around increased customs checks due to Brexit.

"We will always prioritise people who are at end-of-life, or emergency cases."