Teenager and 92-year-old man among those forced to wait 48 hours in Northampton General Hospital’s A&E

A concerned mother says her son was sat in Northampton General Hospital’s accident and emergency department for 48 hours due to a shortage of beds.

Ronnie Monaghan was taken to the hospital at 9.30am on Saturday morning with abdominal pains, which doctors believe was caused by Crohn’s disease and problems with his appendix.

The 17-year-old required 48-hours of intravenous steroid treatment, but mum Andrea says her son was not given a bed due to a shortage. Instead they were told at 2am he would have to receive treatment in accident and emergency.

Andrea says her son was not the only patient affected, with at least six other people waiting for extended periods in the Emergency Same Day Care area, with another being a 92-year-old man.

Andrea said: “This raises serious questions about the extent of the pressure on hospital capacity and how patients are being accommodated while waiting for appropriate care.

“When I asked how Ronnie was supposed to rest and sleep in these circumstances, I was told that a 92-year-old man was having to do the same.

“I appreciate hospital staff are working under enormous pressure. However, as a parent, it is deeply upsetting to see my son facing the prospect of spending the night in an A&E waiting room while receiving treatment for an ongoing medical condition, knowing he will have to endure this with nowhere to wash, eat or even rest when he feels drained from his condition.

“My concerns are about how patients who need continued treatment are accommodated, how their care is monitored when inpatient beds are unavailable, and what the hospital is doing to address these pressures.”

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) did not respond to the Chron’s request about the number of patients waiting for beds on Saturday night, or whether it is standard practice for people requiring ongoing treatment to wait in A&E or Same Day Emergency departments.

But deputy chief operating officer Simon Nicholson says the hospital’s emergency services are currently under pressure and have seen an 11 per-cent increase in demand compared to the same time last year.

He said: “We would like to apologise to Ronnie and his family for his experience, and to any patients who are experiencing long waits in our emergency department at this time, either to be seen and treated, or those patients who are waiting for a hospital bed.   

“Like many hospitals in the country we are now seeing significant additional peaks in demand impacting our emergency services which is putting significant pressure on our emergency departments and medical beds at both of our hospitals.

 “We have seen an 11 per cent increase in demand at NGH’s emergency department. That trend is continuing alongside a high bed occupancy.  

“Our teams remain focused on patient safety and essential care, while working to improve the movement of patients through the hospital and reduce delays wherever possible. Our emergency department medical and nursing teams are undertaking regular safety rounds to ensure patient safety.

“We are also working closely with our partners to enable timely discharge of our patients who are medically fit for discharge to their home or into community care to enable us to free up beds in a timely way for those in greatest need.”

The hospital is urging residents to only attend the emergency department for ‘significant’ or potentially life-threatening issues, and to use community care options like GPs, phoning NHS 111 or visiting a pharmacy where possible.