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A patient has told how she has had £5,700 plundered from her bank account – after her phone and purse were last seen at a hospital. Epileptic Abbey Carter, from Smallthorne, ended up in a coma at the Royal Stoke University Hospital after suffering a seizure.
The 29-year-old says she woke up from her coma to discover her phone and purse missing. The phone was last traced to a location in Birmingham.
Abbey had first gone to Haywood Hospital, in Burslem, after suffering a suspected dislocated shoulder following a seizure before being sent to the Royal Stoke. That was where she suffered the second seizure and Abbey suspects her phone and purse disappeared in the Royal Stoke.
She said: “My phone was my lifeline with having epilepsy because I’d set reminders to remind me to do things, because I can forget things easily with being epileptic. It had important notes that I need and people’s birthdays on there to remind me. Whoever has my phone spent around £5,700. I went to Barclays to beg them for help and I ended up having a seizure in there so they called the police who brought me home.
“I’d been saving for years, I had almost £8,000 in there, I’m only from Smallthorne and it’s been blitzed in about three days.
“I’m gutted, I don’t feel confident that I’ll get anything back. I’m shocked and surprised with how it’s all come about. Barclays wouldn’t let me withdraw the rest of my money because I wanted to take it all out so it couldn’t be spent by whoever has my phone and purse. I’ve had no support from the hospital or the police, apart from certain individuals.
“The hospital hasn’t looked after my personal belongings because I woke up from a coma with nothing. The police have said there’s nothing they can do because it’s under the responsibility of the hospital, and there’s nothing the hospital can do, other than they got me to fill out a lost property form.”
A Royal Stoke spokesman said: “We would encourage Ms Carter to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service so that we can look into her concerns and investigate appropriately.”
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