Queen Alexandra Hospital criticised over mum's death with ‘lack of staff causing all sorts of problems’

Maureen Graham, 82, was admitted to the Cosham hospital with Covid before her health deteriorated in the 10-days she was there. Her son Mike believes the lack of care she suffered contributed to her downfall, during which she suffered the indignity of soiling herself because no one was around to help her.

Mike also raised concerns that no one was checking how much food and drink Maureen, who lived in Cosham, was having. And said the problems were not limited just to his mother – with others on the ward also complaining at the lack of care.

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The hospital has been under severe strain, with it still declaring it is under a Critical Incident with it swamped by patients. But Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has apologised to Maureen’s family and said it will look into concerns raised.

Maureen died from bronchopneumonia – the primary cause – and from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), complicated by a carcinoma of the left lung.

Mike told The News: ‘It was bad enough hearing that she had passed away but with the knowledge of how poorly she was treated in hospital due to the lack of care and attention she received made things worse. The lack of staff caused all sorts of problems for patients.

‘In my mum's case, often being left on a commode for long periods or staff not reacting to her need for a commode quickly enough, which often left her distressed and in one instance soiling her bed. This seemed to be a common complaint by relatives attending to loved ones on the same ward.

‘As a family, we were also concerned that no one appeared to be monitoring how much she consumed. Food was problematic as she was too frail to feed herself. It was also obvious that no one checked whether she kept hydrated. We ensured that someone was always with her during mealtimes.

‘The lack of staff resulted in some instances of patients losing their dignity by soiling themselves. On another occasion my mum was left alone on a commode for over 30 minutes at 3am in the morning. This caused a chill and left her very distressed.’

Mike added: ‘A duty manager openly admitted the hospital was suffering from a critical shortage of staff, but she assured me it would not happen again. But of course, it did, almost on a daily basis.’

Liz Rix, chief nurse at the hospital trust, said: ‘We are very sorry that Mrs Graham did not receive her care in a timely way. All of our staff are focused and committed to caring for everyone who needs us as quickly and safely as possible in what has been, and still are, extremely challenging circumstances.

‘Like many hospitals across the country, this winter has seen us face an unprecedented demand on our services and we continue to operate in a Critical Incident mode to help us maintain patient safety and clinical standards. We would welcome the opportunity to look into the concerns raised and encourage the family to contact our Patient Advice and Complaints Team.’