Stafford Hospital patient had to use mobile to get attention

A patient on a ward at Stafford Hospital had to use his mobile phone to ring the hospital switchboard to get nurses' attention during an emergency.

Colin Felton, from the Silkmore area, made two desperate calls from his bed on ward six after a fellow patient fell in a toilet in March this year.

He said the man had moments earlier ripped out a blood transfusion line, spilling blood onto the hospital floor in desperation to get to the toilet after nurses had ignored three separate call bells for over half an hour.

Mr Felton, aged 48, claims to have witnessed appalling scenes at the hospital during his stay after being admitted as an emergency on March 17.

Bosses at the hospital have offered their apologies and said there are no excuses for what he witnessed.

In a separate incident Mr Felton said nurses again failed to respond to call bells and he was forced to throw a plastic chair across the ward in order to get their attention. After undergoing an operation at the hospital Mr Felton, a consultant for the construction industry, was in the hospital's high dependency unit.

But he said that when he asked for a glass of cold water he was told he couldn't have one because it would wake the staff who were asleep in a nearby room. He also claims he was left without pain relief until he complained.

He said: "We heard the chap fall in the toilet and nobody was coming. This was after about 40 minutes and so I realised the only thing I could do was ring the switchboard using my mobile."

The first time he called, the phone was put straight down, and the second time he insisted being put through as an emergency, he said. Moments later nurses rushed on to the ward.

He said: ""There are good nurses there covering for those that are bad. Some of them need handing their P45s. I am seriously considering going private."

Julie Bailey, founder of Cure the NHS said: "This is hugely disappointing and the community in Stafford deserves better after everything that has happened."

In a statement Chief Executive Antony Sumara said: "There are no excuses for the poor care Mr Felton received and witnessed at our hospital and I have offered him our sincere apologies."

Mr Sumara added he was disappointed Mr Felton had gone to the media given the amount of time the hospital had spent investigating his concerns.

?