Retired NHS nurse, 93, left "soaked with own urine" for hours then spends SIX DAYS in hospital corridor with broken back

A 93-year-old retired nurse has described how she was left "soaked" with her own urine in a hospital cubicle for hours - before spending SIX DAYS in a corridor with a broken back.

In a heartbreaking interview, Enid Stevens, who was honoured with an MBE for her services to the NHS, said her ordeal was the "most degrading thing" she's ever experienced.

She recalled how she endured a six-hour wait at A&E, before being left alone in a cubicle for five hours, wet from her "waist down to her knees" after becoming incontinent.

"I was soaked-through with urine in my clothes - it was like a nightmare," she said.

She added that she was later left between two doors in a corridor at St James's Hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for six days with a spinal fracture - due to a shortage of beds.

"I was blocking the entrance to a doctor's consultation room so I had to be shoved out of the way when the doctors brought patients' families in to speak with them," she said.

The former theatre sister, who has five great-grandchildren, worked for the NHS for 41 years.

She said: "What happened to me was the most degrading thing I've ever experienced.

"I worked in the NHS from the age of 18 until I retired when I was 59 and every second of that time I was stood up on my feet - I didn't get an MBE for nothing.

"But I'm not blaming the hospital or the staff there - you have to see it for yourself.

"The place was absolutely heaving - as soon as you ask a nurse to do one thing she's stopped by someone else to do something else.

"There used to be convalescent homes for elderly patients to recover after hospital treatment but the government got rid of them years ago.

"It's all in A&E and there's nowhere to put people except in the corridor.

"I'm just lucky I had my daughter to go backwards and forwards for everything."

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised for Enid's experience, admitting that she was cared for "in a non-designated bed space for longer than is acceptable".

Julian Hartley, the Trust's Chief Executive, added: "Unfortunately there are pressures across the whole health and social care system which impact on our ability to discharge some patients who need further non-hospital support or care."

"Regrettably we sometimes have to move some patients to a non-designated bed space for a temporary period of time. This is so we can meet the needs of patients who require closer clinical observation and monitoring."

Widow Enid had first arrived at the hospital at around 7.30pm on March 6 this year, after she began suffering from back pain and called an ambulance.

She said she waited at A&E for six hours before being left in a cubicle for a further five hours, where she was unable to move on her trolley or alert nurses.

She claimed: "A nurse passed by so I asked her for some clean clothes but she never came back so I sat there for five hours wet-through."

She added: "It was the most terrible thing that has ever happened to me."

Eventually, the former nurse managed to "shuffle" to the end of the trolley - which had reportedly been left with its sides up - before getting herself on to a chair.

There, she changed into a clean nightie she had brought with her.

She was later moved to a bed on a ward at the hospital.

Enid underwent an MRI scan and was given morphine for her pain before being taken back to the ward so doctors could monitor her while she recovered from her injury.

It was suspected she had fractured her spine bending over to put her slippers on.

However, she awoke at 2am three days later to find herself being wheeled down a corridor.

In her interview, the pensioner recalled how she was being moved to a different ward but, when she arrived, she was told there were no beds available.

She said she was then left in the corridor, "blocking the entrance" to a nearby room.

"That's where I was left for six days," she said.

"I was blocking the entrance to a doctor's consultation room so I had to be shoved out of the way when the doctors brought patients' families in to speak with them."

Enid was supported through her devastating ordeal by her devoted daughter, Barbara Brook.

Mum-of-two Barbara, 61, said: "Mum was right next to where they kept the apron and mask dispensers and the staff had to lean over her to get them.

"It was so upsetting for her - just awful really."

Enid, who was awarded an MBE in October 1983 for her work in charge of theatre at Leeds's Seacroft Hospital, was eventually discharged on Friday this week.

In his full statement, Mr Hartley, of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our communication with Mrs Stevens and her family during her stay should have been
better and I sincerely apologise for her experience of care.

"Mrs Stevens was cared for in a non-designated bed space for longer than is acceptable and I am sorry that we weren't able to move her to a dedicated bed space during her stay.

"Unfortunately there are pressures across the whole health and social care system which impact on our ability to discharge some patients who need further non-hospital support or care."

"Regrettably we sometimes have to move some patients to a non-designated bed space for a temporary period of time. This is so we can meet the needs of patients who require closer clinical observation and monitoring."