The son of a frail 76-year-old grandmother, who has advanced vascular dementia, has spoken of his disbelief at what he claims is "negligence at its peak", after she was discharged from a Lanarkshire acute hospital with a cannula needle still in her arm.
Shakuntala Gupta was admitted to University Hospital Hairmyres a week ago with bowel and bladder complications.
The gran-of-two, who is confused and disorientated, was discharged on Monday and taken by ambulance to the East Kilbride home where she's cared for by her son, Shalabh, and his wife, Ritu.
Only then did the couple notice that the cannula - a plastic tube containing a needle that is inserted into a patient's body in order to deliver medication or fluids - was still inserted in her arm and held in place by a sticking plaster.
After Ritu went to Hairmyres to collect her mother-in-law's medication and alert staff, a nurse from the ward where Mrs Gupta had been treated drove to the family home to remove the needle – and, says Shalabh, apologise for the hospital's failure to notice the error prior to her discharge.
Saying that "anything could have happened," her son has pledged to make a formal complaint about the "carelessness," and is considering seeking legal advice over what he claims is medical negligence.
It comes after English legal firm Slee Blackwell reached an out-of-court settlement for the widow of a man who died in June 2019 after being discharged from St James University Hospital in Leeds with a cannula, which had been inserted by paramedics, still in place.
A post mortem found that an infection caused by the cannula had resulted in a decline in his renal function.
It's not the first time Mr Gupta has raised a complaint with NHS Lanarkshire about his ailing mother's treatment at University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride.
Lanarkshire Live reported in January how Mrs Gupta's horrified family claimed to have found her alone, lying on an unscreened bed by an open door in a Hairmyres day room.
Her son claimed she was "semi-naked and soaked in urine."
The space, which is where staff go to eat, was used to store furniture and packaging and to load trolleys of water jugs destined for wards.
When asked to comment on Shakuntala's move to Hairmyres’ staff dining area, Lise Axford, chief of nursing services at the hospital expressed regret.
She told us: "Unfortunately, it was necessary to accommodate this patient for a four-hour period in the ward day room. The patient’s family were appraised of the reasons for the move at the time.
“We ask patients and families to raise any concerns with staff at the time so they can resolve any issues."
Saying that the hospital was experiencing "extremely high demand for inpatient beds,“ she stressed that anyone with concerns should raise them through the complaints process via the patient affairs team for investigation.
Shalabh Gupta claims he lodged a formal complaint online about the incident, but maintains he received no acknowledgement from NHS Lanarkshire and he claims no action was taken as a result of his grievance.
He says it's incredulous that no-one in the hospital noticed that the cannula had not been removed from his mother's arm and fears that, had he not spotted it, his agitated mother could have dislodged it in her sleep and suffered blood loss.
"I did not want to remove it myself, because I'm not an expert," said dad-of-two, Shalabh.
"When my wife went to the hospital to pick up my mum's medication and explain about the cannula, staff said sorry and put their head in their hands. A nurse from the same ward she'd been admitted to came to the house and took the cannula off. She told her she was sorry they sent her home with it. My mum was clearly distressed."
Mr Gupta claims that during her most recent week-long stay at Hairmyres, staff relied on the family to feed his mother three times a day and administer her medication.
"They were not cleaning her properly in the ward," claims Mr Gupta, whose mum has been re-admitted to Hairmyres on two more occasions since the January incident.
"She had been drooling and I had to take a hand towel and clean her mouth and neck because there was saliva everywhere. There must be other people suffering, too. They do not care enough. To them, it is just a piece of flesh, and they do not care."
Mr Gupta also alleges medics didn't listen to him when he told them about "episodes" that his mother had been experiencing. Not until he showed them a video he'd made of her experiencing an apparent seizure, he claims, was she diagnosed with epilepsy and prescribed the appropriate medication.
"They would not even care to listen to me," continued Shalab, who acknowledged that the NHS is under extreme pressure.
"Why do you always have to do videos and pictures? And why make such stupid mistakes with patients with advanced dementia who have been admitted before? It is negligence at its peak. "
Lise Axford, chief of nursing services at University Hospital Hairmyres, said: "Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss individual cases.
“We regret any instance where someone feels we have failed to provide the highest standard of care. We have a complaints process via our patient affairs team and we would always encourage anyone to contact us in this way if they wish to raise any concerns to allow them to be fully investigated."
Referring to the complaint Mr Gupta made in January about his mum's move to a hospital day room, she added: “Our patient affairs team tried to make contact with the complainant to clarify information and to obtain consent to progress the complaint but no response was received.”
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
