Christopher Birch was taken to hospital with a life-threatening condition
Christopher Birch, 43, spent 50 hours on a trolley in a corridor at the Royal Liverpool Hospital (Image: Supplied)
A man felt “helpless” as he was left lying on a trolley in a hospital corridor for 50 hours. Christopher Birch, 43, from Allerton, was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital by paramedics on Saturday, February 7.
Ambulance crews told Christopher he had entered adrenal crisis, a life-threatening condition linked to Addison’s disease, which Christopher suffers from. He told the ECHO: “I spent 50 hours in a corridor, and I was really sick. I was mortified. The care in the corridor was all over the place.
“There were two nurses dealing with about 20 patients with really bad needs. These nurses couldn’t keep up and I felt so sorry for them.”
The ECHO understands such “corridor care” situations at the Royal are attended at any one time by four registered nurses with healthcare assistants supporting. NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group said it is facing “significant pressure” in its emergency departments, but that this “should not affect the dignity or wellbeing of those in our care”.
The entrance to A&E at the new Royal Liverpool Hospital on Low Hill(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Christopher continued: “There were patients in the waiting room sleeping under vending machines. There was a woman rolling around in pain on the floor. I actually went to the doctors’ desk and said, ‘There’s a lady outside rolling round in pain’. They said, ‘We have offered her a seat’. I said, ‘That lady needs to go on a bed; she can have my bed’.
“On the corridor I was on, there was a full turnover of patients twice before I got a bed. All the people there had gone to wards and another set of people had come in.
“It made me feel helpless and small, and so sad. I spent a lot of the time crying.”
Christopher was eventually taken to a room he described as having “really bad ventilation”, adding “I couldn’t breathe in there”. Christopher remains in hospital with diverticular disease.
Yesterday, the ECHO shared a video of patients waiting on trolleys on a corridor at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. The video, taken on Friday, February 13, shows trolleys lining the wall for the full length of the corridor. Patients, some elderly and some wearing oxygen masks, lie on the trolleys. Some have visitors with them.
Two weeks prior, Christopher was again taken to hospital with gastric problems, including bleeding. He said: “I was in really bad pain. I waited on the corridor for six or seven hours.
Christopher said he felt “small and helpless” looking at the patients waiting in the hospital corridor(Image: Supplied)
“During that time, I needed the toilet. I use a wheelchair because I’ve got functional neurological disorder. A member of staff took me to the toilet on a commode into a single men’s toilet with no room or disability supports for someone like me.
“She shut the door and walked away. While I was on that toilet, I suffered a massive seizure. I woke up on the floor with part of my body jammed beneath this commode.”
Christopher said he was banging on the toilet door before staff came to his aid. He said his hand “blew up” after he sustained an injury in the fall. He suffered a hairline fracture.
Christopher said that, during this first visit, he had a CT scan and was later discharged. He told the ECHO that, during his most recent admission, he was told the scan showed he had diverticular disease.
Christopher Birch’s hand after a fall(Image: Supplied)
He continued: “Nursing staff are telling me that colleagues are resigning because they’ve lost the passion due to the pressure. They are not being given the tools to do the job.”
Earlier this month, the ECHO told how Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral was in crisis as patients on trolleys lined corridors and ambulances queued up outside carrying sick and ill people. And in January, the ECHO revealed an elderly woman had died alone on a trolley in a corridor with exhausted staff unable to care for her.
A spokesperson for NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: “Ensuring safe, high-quality care for every patient is always our top priority. We apologise for aspects of Mr Birch’s care that have not meet the standards we strive to provide and we are looking into his experience further.
“Like many hospitals, we are currently facing significant pressure in our Emergency Departments, but this should not affect the dignity or wellbeing of those in our care.”
Do you have a information, a tip or a story? Contact jon.blackburn@liverpoolecho.co.uk
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