Mum leaves Hull Royal Infirmary A&E without treatment after feeling ‘unsafe’

A mum claims she had no choice but to leave Hull Royal Infirmary’s A&E department without any treatment because it was “filthy and unsafe”.

Victoria Riley, 39, of Cottingham described the accident and emergency waiting room as a “breeding ground for Covid-19” when she was taken to hospital by ambulance on Saturday evening.

Ms Riley, a mum of two, said she was “shocked at the state of the place”, claiming it was dirty with patients failing to socially distance.

She told Hull Live that during her two-hour wait, she witnessed no cleaning take place, a bowl of blood and a used mask left on the floor. The hand sanitiser had also run out.

The claims were supported by a series of photographs sent to Hull Live.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had put extra resources into cleaning on Saturday, but they had been “stretched” over the past two weekends due to increasing numbers of people arriving with problems which could have been treated elsewhere.

The trust also said social distancing becomes “very difficult” when there are high attendances.

“I was just really shocked by the state of the place given the Covid-19 risks,” the mum said.

“In the two hours I was there, no cleaning was done at all. I’d have at least expected cleaners to be spraying disinfectant at times.

“The hand gel dispenser was even empty. It was bad enough for me to leave without getting any medical care.”

Ms Riley had fallen earlier in the day whilst in Flamborough and called 111 later that night when she began getting pins and needles in her arms. An ambulance was sent for her and took her to A&E.

She said many patients took someone in with them, despite the trust asking patients to go alone when possible.

She added: “They have taken a lot of seats away in A&E so there were no seats left, but the ones that were left there were not two metres apart.

“I had to stand because there was no seat for me. There were so many people stood around, it was horrendous, so many people constantly passing.

“In the entire waiting room there were only three of us with masks on.

“There was a man sat there coughing, he had a mask in his hand and nobody asked him to put it on.

“I eventually got a chair, but under the chair was a cardboard bowl full of tissue and blood which I kicked away.

“There was also a used mask on the floor. The cleaning staff eventually came and collected the bowl with the blood but didn’t do anything else, at no point was anything sprayed.”

Ms Riley described it as a “shocking experience” and said she chose to go without treatment because she felt she was at risk whilst sat in the waiting room.

One of the photos she took showed a clock indicating that a toilet clean was five hours overdue, but the trust says this was a display error.

Ms Riley added: “You just assume with Covid that when you arrive at a hospital you will be given instructions to use hand gel and keep two metres apart, but there was nothing.

Helping Hull’s Hospital Heroes is a campaign launched by Hull Live and the Hull Daily Mail to raise £25,000 to support our incredible hospital staff.

Workers at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital have been at the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic, caring for the most seriously ill patients.

The campaign aims to raise money to support staff and provide them with small treats to lift their spirits and say thank you for their incredible work.

Donations will go to the charity WISHH – Working Independently to Support Hull’s Hospitals – so will go directly towards hospital workers in Hull.

How you can help

A donation of…

£5 will support a front line nurse with a meal, drinks and a snack.

£10 will provide a nurse with a wellbeing care package including protective face and hand creams to care for skin from constant mask and PPE wearing.

£100 will provide a Wellbeing Room Box, accessible to ward staff with mindfulness and distraction items to help them relax including journals, colouring and puzzle books, felt tip pens, puzzles, distraction games and wellbeing books.  The ideas for the contents of these boxes have been inspired by the staff.

In addition to the above, the charity proposes to spend between £1,000 and £3,000 to help make enhancements to staff rest rooms in the hospitals by improving the availability of and access to drinks facilities including coffee machines, microwaves and improving furnishings to enable staff to take a break.

The more money that is donated will enable the charity to support as many of Hull’s 9,500 hospital staff as possible, helping the charity to support them during and beyond the pandemic.

How to donate

You can donate through the dedicated JustGiving page here.

Alternatively, cheques can be made payable to WISHH Charity, writing on the back ‘Hull Live COVID-19 appeal’ and sent to the WISHH Office, Hull Live COVID-19 Appeal, First Floor Administration Block, Castle Hill Hospital, Castle Road, Cottingham, HU16 5JQ.

“It was as if Covid doesn’t exist, it was quite worrying. It felt so unclean, the whole place.

“I just had enough, I was sat in agony and worried. It’s not an attack on the staff. I really feel for the staff that have to work in that environment because clearly the powers that be are not putting the procedures in place.

“There was a man in there who was really drunk and was being quite disorderly”.

She added: “The man who was drunk was bleeding from his head and getting way to close to people. I just didn’t feel safe, I felt like I was going to leave there with Covid.”

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What the hospital trust say

The trust have stressed it has stringent cleaning in place, but said high attendances put a strain on the NHS.

A spokeswoman said: “Every person coming into our Emergency Department (ED) is screened by fully qualified health professionals for signs of Covid-19.

“Anyone suspected with the virus is given a mask and is seen in a dedicated treatment room, away from waiting areas.

“We have reconfigured ED to help those with serious illnesses not related to Covid-19 and those with signs of the virus.

“A third area has been created for people with minor problems but it is much smaller than the former Emergency Care Area to give us enough space to isolate people with suspected Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, over the past two weekends, we have seen increasing numbers coming to ED with problems which could have been treated elsewhere.

“While we try our best to uphold social distancing, high attendances make that very difficult for our staff and put additional strain on our services.

“Extra resources and staff equating to an additional 64 hours of cleaning time over and above our normal standard cleaning time had been put into ED on Saturday to meet the additional workload and cleaning regimes associated with Covid-19 but those resources are stretched when hundreds of people come to the hospital.

“While we can assure the public our toilets were cleaned in line with procedures, the digital clock had not been updated and we apologise for that.

“We are continuing to see significant numbers of people attending Hull Royal’s Emergency Department this week so we appeal to the public once more to only come here if it’s a medical emergency.

“If you require urgent medical attention, please use alternative services such as the GP walk-in service or the Urgent Treatment Centres.

“If you are not sure where to go, visit NHS 111 online or call 111 and they will advise you.”