Mother, 36, releases photos of her suffering seizure on hospital floor

A mother shared a photograph of her suffering a seizure on the hospital floor as she blasted NHS provision for those with complex mental health needs.

Mother-of-one Jodie Lee, 36, from Anfield, was rushed to A&E at the Royal Liverpool Hospital on Friday evening.

She told how she was left fitting on the floor after hospital staff allegedly denied her a bed ‘because her issues were “mental, not physical”‘.

Ms Lee is now sharing her experience to bring to light how patients with mental health needs such as hers can fall through the cracks.

She told how upon arriving in an ambulance, accident and emergency staff examined her but said she was not eligible for a bed because her seizures were ‘stress and mental health related’.

Ms Lee suffers from non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD), a condition that produces seizures, similar to epilepsy, but is thought to be caused by a brain condition she suffers from, known as Functional Neurological Disease (FND). She also has alopecia.

She claimed she was convulsing on the floor for more than an hour during her seizure in the hospital and when her family asked for her to be put in a bed they were repeatedly told she was ‘medically fit’.

Ms Lee is now sharing her experience to bring to light how patients with mental health needs such as hers can fall through the cracks

The family say they left A&E at around 9pm.

Then at around 10.30pm they say they received a call from the hospital asking her whereabouts. 

Ms Lee said: ‘When I arrived they took me straight through to a quiet room because I was making a lot of noise because I suffer from Tourette’s when I’m in one of my seizures.

‘I was hitting myself as part of my seizure. It’s completely involuntary.

‘They left me with no bed knowing full well that I have seizures and I should have been placed on a bed like everyone else deserves a bed in the Royal.

‘I think because I had been seen by the crisis mental health team I wasn’t technically under A&E and they said I didn’t require a bed.

‘But then I stood up and had another seizure that caused me to hit my head on the floor.’ 

She added: ‘After I fell and hit my head, the nurses came over and took my blood pressure and heart rate and then they just walked out again.

‘I was having seizures on the floor with just my pyjamas on. I was freezing. I had the blanket that they gave me as a pillow to put under my head in case I had another seizure and they still wouldn’t give me a bed.

‘You always think going to hospital is the safest place for you but I feel like I should have stayed at home. But instead I’ve gone through that awful traumatic ordeal.

‘I feel absolutely disgusted. Everyone who enters the hospital should be entitled to a bed if they need it.

‘If you’re in hospital it’s meant to be a safe environment, you’re meant to be safe.

‘Being on the floor of the Royal and having seizures is not safe at all.’ 

Jodie’s brother, Josh Lee, 29, who accompanied her to the hospital, said that the experience left her with ‘no dignity at all’.

Mr Lee said: ‘The picture of her laying on the floor says it all.

‘She didn’t get the care that she needed. She was deemed medically fit and had to just lay on the floor. It was wrong on so many levels.

Jodie’s brother, Josh Lee (left), 29, who accompanied her to the hospital, said that the experience left Ms Lee (right) with ‘no dignity at all’

‘The nurses kept saying that she had been deemed medically fit and that she doesn’t need a bed. That’s when my mum said: “What is she going to do? Lay on the floor?” 

‘We were told: “She’s got a chair hasn’t she?”

Mr Lee said that he and his mother eventually decided to leave the hospital before Jodie was discharged from A&E. 

Ms Lee, a former carer who has a nine-year-old son and is unable to work as a result of her condition, relies on round-the-clock supervision from carers and her mum. 

She said: ‘I’ve been going through hell for the last two and a half years. My son’s had to deal with it and he’s only nine. He’s grown up as a young carer. It’s not fair on him.

‘It’s taking my life away. I can’t even be left alone.

‘My mum went to the shops the other day and she came back and I was absolutely torturing myself. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

‘I’ve been told I have to wait for two years to see a consultant about my condition and it’s just horrible. This is going to be my life for two years. How am I meant to cope?’ 

In a statement, Dr Tristan Cope, Medical Director at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (pictured), said: ‘The priority of our staff is to always provide the best care possible for patients and our team in A&E treat patients’ emergency medical needs’

Mr Lee added: ‘It’s heartbreaking watching her like this and when she says she’s got no life.

‘Sometimes when I come round to visit she’ll just be lying on the floor fitting and she’d have her head on my mum’s knee.  

‘Watching her suffer like this is horrible. It’s on a daily basis now.’ 

In a statement, Dr Tristan Cope, Medical Director at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, said: ‘The priority of our staff is to always provide the best care possible for patients and our team in A&E treat patients’ emergency medical needs.

‘Whilst Ms Lee and family members were in the department, Ms Lee was cared for appropriately by our team.

‘Staff were making arrangements to make her more comfortable whilst she waited for an assessment for her health needs from another specialist team.

‘However, Ms Lee and her family left the department before either of these could be facilitated.

‘We would like the opportunity to discuss the experience that Ms Lee described with her and encourage her to contact our Patient Advice and Complaints Team so that we can look into this in the most appropriate way.’