Woman waits 25 hours in hospital corridor after 'heart attack' then gives up

A gran of two was forced to wait more than 25 hours in a hospital corridor after suffering a suspected heart attack. The 86-year-old woman eventually gave up and decided to discharge herself, unable to face another night of waiting.

Widow Maria Bodea had a suspected heart attack failure at home and was taken by ambulance to St Helier Hospital, Sutton, London. However, there were no ward beds available, with Maria having to be put on a trolley bed in a corridor with up to 20 others, according to her family.

Alongside her daughter, Sanda Ghiurcusor who is 57, the pair were placed next to a door leading outside, forcing them to wear woolly hats to keep warm. However, the thought of facing another night in a corridor with "no privacy" was something she couldn't think about.

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Sanda and Maria arrived in hospital at around 6.30pm on Tuesday, September 17 with Sanda saying there were others sleeping in the corridor who had been waiting there since Sunday, September 15. As a result of how long they had already been waiting, Maria decided to self-discharge 25 and a half hours after she arrived in hospital.

Her daughter said that the "embarrassed" staff said the situation her mum was facing was the same across every trust in the country. Having arrived on the 17th, Maria had a CT scan of the head and bladder tests and was referred to a consultant for further tests on Thursday, September 19, but decided she couldn't stay another night in the corridor. She was still in the corridor at 8pm on Wednesday, so discharged herself then.

The medical PA from Banstead, Surrey, was keen to stress that her frustrations weren't with the staff. Sanda said: "It was like a warzone - it was a big line of beds next to the wall. We were put straight in the corridor near the doors automatic doors so we had cold coming in - it was a really bad night.

"People could walk past, cleaners walk past, and there's no privacy. Someone else said they had been there since Sunday. My mum is very frail and confused now. The matron told me it's like this in every trust in the country.

"It's not like the staff is not nice, everyone does a brilliant job but the management doesn't seem to invest in what's needed. It's not the doctor's fault - you can see the staff are stressed and embarrassed."

Sanda - who is originally from Romania - said the situation in the hospital made her "sad" adding: "They were swamped. It's just sad. I couldn't believe I was in England. Even in Romania, older people wouldn't be treated like this."

Maria had some medication changed before leaving the hospital. She's been referred to another consultant for further tests.

A spokesperson for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “While we always do our best for our patients, these are not the conditions we want to care for them in and we are really sorry that Mrs Bodea did not have a good experience. When our services are exceptionally busy, as they are at the moment, we sometimes have to care for people in other areas of the hospital until a suitable bed becomes available - this is always only a temporary measure and patients are supervised by clinical teams at all times.”