Stranded: Mum had to walk four miles home from hospital at 3am - in her night gown (From Thisisdorset)

Cookie Jar wrote:
A bit of a none story I'm afraid! Why are so many people unable to help themselves these days?!

Funny, i'm sure hospitals have 'waiting rooms'?! So was there really any reason to go off walking in the rain?!

whataboutthat wrote:
Why do Echo snappers feel the need to fake up pics after the event with a disgruntled pose and her in a dressing gown - to emphasise what precisely? Also why didn't she have a mobile? I thought it was a crime not to have one these days...

whataboutthat wrote:
Why do Echo snappers feel the need to fake up pics after the event with a disgruntled pose and her in a dressing gown - to emphasise what precisely? Also why didn't she have a mobile? I thought it was a crime not to have one these days...

RageAgainstTheMachin
e wrote:

Cookie Jar wrote:
A bit of a none story I'm afraid! Why are so many people unable to help themselves these days?!

Funny, i'm sure hospitals have 'waiting rooms'?! So was there really any reason to go off walking in the rain?!

Too true as per usual.
My hubby has to go A&E on a regular basis and often admitted.If he is able to go home and it is in the middle of the night,he gets a taxi and i pay at the other end.
The lady put herslf at risk by walking home,she chose to do this,as she could of easily sat in A&E till the morning,ive seen people asleep in Pooles A&E waiting room on the chairs waiting till morning

zabadoo wrote:
I hope Nicky has her operation soon. Having had experience of the pain from gall stones I understand how much pain she would have been in. Instead of others criticising her decision to make her own way home, people should be more concerned that there was a mis-diagnosis, the symptoms are not the same.

rudolph_hucker wrote:
Yeah, what a load of rubbish take your sympathy search elsewhere luv coz you'll get none here.

goodoldecho wrote:
"No one suggested I could wait in the hospital until transport was available or offered me the use of a phone; it was busy and I got the impression they just wanted me to go"

How about a pay phone, reverse charges or just wait, surely that's common sense - no one asked this lady to leave either by the sounds of it. Agree - non story and a missed photo opportunity with the folded arms...

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

But then perhaps someone who is in severe pain, tired and no doubt stressed out by the whole hospital experience might just not behave perfectly rationally? Surely the hospital staff should do more to help patients in this situation – at least asking if they've got transport and if not, suggesting something.

alanhl wrote:
recently spent 4 hours in A & E at bournemouth hospital, was told by reception that i was next into triage, 1.5 hours later went in to triage, told there was 1 person to go for treatment before me, left after 4 hours not having been seen by anyone else

alanhl wrote:
recently spent 4 hours in A & E at bournemouth hospital, was told by reception that i was next into triage, 1.5 hours later went in to triage, told there was 1 person to go for treatment before me, left after 4 hours not having been seen by anyone else

a.g.o.g. wrote:
The bottom line is that the lady was badly mis-diagnosed and discharged! How she did or did not cope with the dillema that they left her in at 4am is not the real issue.

fifty shades of brown envelopes wrote:
My uncle asked if he could see his gall stones The nurse put them in a glass jar so that he could have a quick look at them when he woke up The gentleman in the next bed saw them first and swallowed all five thought it was his medication.

Cookie Jar wrote:

a.g.o.g. wrote: The bottom line is that the lady was badly mis-diagnosed and discharged! How she did or did not cope with the dillema that they left her in at 4am is not the real issue.

A.g.o.g that unfortunately is the point we are all making!! The story in the echo is that of the plight of this woman in the fact that she clearly can't look after herself and is after pity! The story isn't titled that she was Mis-diagnosed but the fact that she was stranded, in pain and left to walk home on her own at silly o'clock in the morning!

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

a.g.o.g. wrote:

Cookie Jar wrote:

a.g.o.g. wrote: The bottom line is that the lady was badly mis-diagnosed and discharged! How she did or did not cope with the dillema that they left her in at 4am is not the real issue.

A.g.o.g that unfortunately is the point we are all making!! The story in the echo is that of the plight of this woman in the fact that she clearly can't look after herself and is after pity! The story isn't titled that she was Mis-diagnosed but the fact that she was stranded, in pain and left to walk home on her own at silly o'clock in the morning!

how easilly deflected can some be!

penhale wrote:

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

But then perhaps someone who is in severe pain, tired and no doubt stressed out by the whole hospital experience might just not behave perfectly rationally? Surely the hospital staff should do more to help patients in this situation – at least asking if they've got transport and if not, suggesting something.

The NHS has no responsibility to ensure people get home after being discharged, they are stretched enough already, perhaps you would like to see more money pumped in to provide a free taxi service, not sure if there's a free taxi phone in the A/E department but perhaps one could be installed.
As for allowing people to use a phone to call home, all these phone calls would add up to vast expense and would not be the best way to use vital money.
She said several police cars passed her, I'm sure she could have flagged one of them down and they may have offered assistance.

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

Cookie Jar wrote:
A bit of a none story I'm afraid! Why are so many people unable to help themselves these days?!

Funny, i'm sure hospitals have 'waiting rooms'?! So was there really any reason to go off walking in the rain?!

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

O'Reilly wrote:
A lot of ad hominems attatched to this lady and the story.

Mike Pickering wrote:
What an absolute disgrace - you people are the most awful bunch of braying swines I've ever, ever had the misfortune to encounter in all my born days. Jesus effing Christ, your misery and heartlessness know no bounds.
It warms the tender corner of my heart knowing that one day (it comes to us all), you all will be upset, angry, confused and in pain, and unable to make fully rational decisions about how best to care for yourselves, and in circumstances not unlike this, might find yourself without money, or someone that cares about you in the middle of the night, away from home.
I'm smiling now to myself, as I imagine each and every one of you on the long cold and lonely road, the chilling puddles finding their way into your sad thin slippers, the wind whipping round you bringing you into consciousness briefly before your serious undiagnosed abdominal condition and the painkillers dull your senses again, and you trudge onward, wrapped only in the loneliness of the small hours.
At least this woman got home safely, to a family that loved her, and found refuge; judging from the callous and soulless remarks about this story, many of you are stumbling, waylaid by sickness on cold and lonely roads yourselves, but are lost, and have no hope of reaching home.

Miss Opinionated wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

Why not get the taxi to take you to a cashpoint ?

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Howdie wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

Poole hospital has a cash machine inside!

alanhl wrote:
recently spent 4 hours in A & E at bournemouth hospital, was told by reception that i was next into triage, 1.5 hours later went in to triage, told there was 1 person to go for treatment before me, left after 4 hours not having been seen by anyone else

RageAgainstTheMachin
e wrote:

O'Reilly wrote:
A lot of ad hominems attatched to this lady and the story.

Great many thanks i learnt a new word today........

Dibbles2 wrote:

Howdie wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

Poole hospital has a cash machine inside!

So why did the nurse direct me to the one in the petrol station? See a simple solution but lack of information. Is that really acceptable? I had the money in the bank so that wasnt the issue.

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

AnastasiaB wrote:
What a load of rubbish, no one forced her to walk home and the hospital has no reason to apologise.

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

But then perhaps someone who is in severe pain, tired and no doubt stressed out by the whole hospital experience might just not behave perfectly rationally? Surely the hospital staff should do more to help patients in this situation – at least asking if they've got transport and if not, suggesting something.

The NHS has no responsibility to ensure people get home after being discharged, they are stretched enough already, perhaps you would like to see more money pumped in to provide a free taxi service, not sure if there's a free taxi phone in the A/E department but perhaps one could be installed.
As for allowing people to use a phone to call home, all these phone calls would add up to vast expense and would not be the best way to use vital money.
She said several police cars passed her, I'm sure she could have flagged one of them down and they may have offered assistance.

That's not what I said – just that a member of staff could have asked her if she was okay to get home (considering she was in pain and still in her dressing gown) and offered a suggestion. People are meant to look after you in hospital, after all.

Square Old Codger wrote:
There aren't many good samaritans here today - rushing to judgement, without the facts. These are poor people, living from hand to mouth I expect, nothing in the Bank and no phone it seems. The husband looking after three small children can hardly be expected to leave them unattended. Common sense should have prevailed when it was discovered that there was no Hospital car available and she should have been told to stay there until morning. add to that the mis diagnosis and the pain the lady must have been in - I have some sympathy for her, gall stones are extremely painfull. Nothing much changes in A &E though, I managed to snap the patella tendon whilst playing golf on the Queens Park Course, taken to A & E in the middle of the afternoon, finally seen a couple of hours later and an operation was arranged the following day at Poole, sent then for a full leg cast to be applied, no one qualified to do that so a half cast applied.Could only then be moved by an ambulance, by then approaching the Change over to the Night Emergency Service. Lay on a trolly for 11 hours awaiting an Ambulance, home just before 6 am, to wait for an Ambulance to take me to Poole.

spooki wrote:

Mike Pickering wrote:
What an absolute disgrace - you people are the most awful bunch of braying swines I've ever, ever had the misfortune to encounter in all my born days. Jesus effing Christ, your misery and heartlessness know no bounds.
It warms the tender corner of my heart knowing that one day (it comes to us all), you all will be upset, angry, confused and in pain, and unable to make fully rational decisions about how best to care for yourselves, and in circumstances not unlike this, might find yourself without money, or someone that cares about you in the middle of the night, away from home.
I'm smiling now to myself, as I imagine each and every one of you on the long cold and lonely road, the chilling puddles finding their way into your sad thin slippers, the wind whipping round you bringing you into consciousness briefly before your serious undiagnosed abdominal condition and the painkillers dull your senses again, and you trudge onward, wrapped only in the loneliness of the small hours.
At least this woman got home safely, to a family that loved her, and found refuge; judging from the callous and soulless remarks about this story, many of you are stumbling, waylaid by sickness on cold and lonely roads yourselves, but are lost, and have no hope of reaching home.

Yes she got home safely which is a great thing. BUT anyone with a bit of common sense would have found a corner seat out of the way to wait until 6am-ish or whatever reasonable time to call someone for help to get home.. There's no way if she was in that amount of pain she would have walked four miles home.
Yes, we have sympathy for the outrageous mis-diagnosis but what would you have done in her position? Would you have shuffled four miles home in the rain in 'severe' pain? I had SUSPECTED gall stones and I couldn't even drive myself to the RBH for the scan. All we are saying in OUR OPINIONS is we would not have done the same thing.
Oh and thanks for wishing pain and suffering on us all (I won't mention the possibly offensive blasphemy).

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

penhale wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

As I have already said there is a free phone to call a taxi in the main entrance, simple really.

Dibbles2 wrote:

penhale wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

As I have already said there is a free phone to call a taxi in the main entrance, simple really.

and when you are inthe a and e department the main entrance is not accessible at night. Simple really! As said before I was directed to the cashpoint at thepetrol station, had I been told there was a free phone or a cashpoint in the hospital I would have used it. Not quite sure people like you are attacking my comments when I have made it clear, I had never been in Poole A and E before and I DID NOT KNOW ANY OF THIS HENCE I WOULD HAVE NOT WALKED TO THE PETROL STATION.

penhale wrote:

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

But then perhaps someone who is in severe pain, tired and no doubt stressed out by the whole hospital experience might just not behave perfectly rationally? Surely the hospital staff should do more to help patients in this situation – at least asking if they've got transport and if not, suggesting something.

The NHS has no responsibility to ensure people get home after being discharged, they are stretched enough already, perhaps you would like to see more money pumped in to provide a free taxi service, not sure if there's a free taxi phone in the A/E department but perhaps one could be installed.
As for allowing people to use a phone to call home, all these phone calls would add up to vast expense and would not be the best way to use vital money.
She said several police cars passed her, I'm sure she could have flagged one of them down and they may have offered assistance.

Ivan Opinion wrote:

AnastasiaB wrote:
What a load of rubbish, no one forced her to walk home and the hospital has no reason to apologise.

Yup -- Spot On

Letcommonsenseprevai
l wrote:
She's still in her dressing gown now! Thought she might have made an effort for the camera!

Phixer wrote:

penhale wrote:

The Liberal wrote:

penhale wrote:
There is a phone free to use for a taxi service in the main entrance and you can pay when you get home so no excuse really.

But then perhaps someone who is in severe pain, tired and no doubt stressed out by the whole hospital experience might just not behave perfectly rationally? Surely the hospital staff should do more to help patients in this situation – at least asking if they've got transport and if not, suggesting something.

The NHS has no responsibility to ensure people get home after being discharged, they are stretched enough already, perhaps you would like to see more money pumped in to provide a free taxi service, not sure if there's a free taxi phone in the A/E department but perhaps one could be installed.
As for allowing people to use a phone to call home, all these phone calls would add up to vast expense and would not be the best way to use vital money.
She said several police cars passed her, I'm sure she could have flagged one of them down and they may have offered assistance.

Whilst the NHS doesn't have responsibility, making sure that someone knows where to find a freefone for a taxi or offer options on what to do is something most of had come to expect from a civilised society.

Now, no-one gives a monkeys - and we still think we're civilised!

Dibbles2 wrote:

penhale wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

As I have already said there is a free phone to call a taxi in the main entrance, simple really.

and when you are inthe a and e department the main entrance is not accessible at night. Simple really! As said before I was directed to the cashpoint at thepetrol station, had I been told there was a free phone or a cashpoint in the hospital I would have used it. Not quite sure people like you are attacking my comments when I have made it clear, I had never been in Poole A and E before and I DID NOT KNOW ANY OF THIS HENCE I WOULD HAVE NOT WALKED TO THE PETROL STATION.

stevobath wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:

penhale wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:

grazzer wrote:
dibbie2 says she had no money for a taxi home and had to walk to a cashpoint in her nightclothes.why didn;t he or she call the taxi first and get it to stop at a cashpoint on the way home?

Because my phone had died and I had no money on me to call from the payphone thats why> When being admitted via ambulance on a blue light your last thought is to grab spare cash on your way out and my first thjought was for childcare for my 9 year old son.

As I have already said there is a free phone to call a taxi in the main entrance, simple really.

and when you are inthe a and e department the main entrance is not accessible at night. Simple really! As said before I was directed to the cashpoint at thepetrol station, had I been told there was a free phone or a cashpoint in the hospital I would have used it. Not quite sure people like you are attacking my comments when I have made it clear, I had never been in Poole A and E before and I DID NOT KNOW ANY OF THIS HENCE I WOULD HAVE NOT WALKED TO THE PETROL STATION.

Open mouth & ask instead of getting a daft picture in the Echo.Anyway youve rather contradicted yourself.You said you 'dont grab spare change...' but you remembered to grab your bank card.

Anyway,the hospital staff would surely have called a taxi for you?If you had no money you stop at the cash point on the way home.

whataboutthat wrote:
Why do Echo snappers feel the need to fake up pics after the event with a disgruntled pose and her in a dressing gown - to emphasise what precisely? Also why didn't she have a mobile? I thought it was a crime not to have one these days...

Sgt McNutt wrote:

Dibbles2 wrote:
I had a similar experience in Poole recently after a suspected heart attack and had to walk to the cashpoint in the rain to withdraw money for a taxi in my nightclothes at 4am. Whilst I can understand they cant keep people in hospital for no reason they could be more helpful. I couldnt get hold of anyone to pick me up as it was the middle of the night.

You had a taxi in your nightclothes?