Southend: Lengthy A&E waiting times raised by council

A council meeting heard about problems at Southend Hospital with waiting times for patients and the time it took them to be discharged

An elderly woman endured a 10-hour wait in a wheelchair in A&E without water or pain relief, a council meeting was told.

Donna Richardson, a Labour councillor on Southend-on-Sea City Council, raised the issue about Southend Hospital.

She said the patient was "in a lot of pain" and unable to reach a toilet.

Andrew Pike, the hospital's chief operating officer, apologised, saying: "That's not something we should tolerate."

Ms Richardson asked the council's people scrutiny committee: "What process are you going to be implanting to try and help elderly patients in A&E?"

Mr Pike, from the Mid and South Essex Hospital Trust, which runs the hospital, said: "Every patient in the emergency department should be regularly checked on.

"We should be supplying food and support for patients who are there for a long time.

"The fact that this patient was there for 10 hours and was elderly and was left sitting there should not have happened, so I'm very sorry to hear that and that's not something we should tolerate.

"The systems were put in place. It shouldn't have occurred."

The hospital trust chief operating officer said lengthy delays should not be tolerated

Helen Boyd, Conservative councillor for Blenheim Park ward, said her experience was "chaotic" when her father had to wait two days to be discharged.

Mr Pike said: "I do want to reassure you the process of our integrated discharge team working with our hospital at home team or the enhanced discharge service, our care planning our liaison with our passenger transport service is better."

A pilot scheme, to create a ward specifically dedicated to discharging patients who were ready to go home, had proved a success, he added.

During the meeting, Owen Richards, chief officer of Healthwatch Southend, said complaints to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) were difficult to access.

Mr Pike said: "The complaints service is not acceptable in terms of the length of time it's taking.

"We are now trying to make sure that when complaints are first received we try and contact the patient directly to see if we can resolved it before it goes into the formal process."