A GRANDMOTHER with a heart condition was forced to start walking five miles home in her night clothes after being discharged from hospital in the middle of the night with no transport.
Barbara Hazzard, 74, was discharged from St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, just four hours after being rushed there in an ambulance.
She has had a double bypass and three stents placed in her heart and was taken to hospital after suffering severe chest pains.
Read more: Documents reveal official doubts over viability of seven-day NHS service
However, after being checked over, she was advised by staff that she could go home at 3am, but was told NHS Lothian do not provide transport to take patients home.
This left the grandmother-of-six with the option of either phoning a taxi, although she had no money on her, or taking a bus that would not turn up for another six hours.
She told staff this but, in a panic and still feeling unwell, she started to make the hour-and-a-half walk to her home in the village of Blackburn, which is five miles away.
Fortunately, a police van appeared a short distance into her walk and she was taken home by two worried police officers who had spotted her walking in the dark.
She said: “The police came out and said to me ‘Where do you think you’re going at this time of night?’ “I said, ‘I’m going home’. They said, ‘You can’t walk home, let’s get you in’.”
Read more: Documents reveal official doubts over viability of seven-day NHS service
Health bosses have now launched an investigation into how she came to be discharged in the middle of the night with no transport home.
After feeling well for some time, Mrs Hazzard suddenly started to feel pains in her chest a few weeks ago, and booked an appointment to see a cardiologist, but was told if she felt ill to call an ambulance.
She said: “On Saturday night the pain started up and got worse. I phoned for an ambulance and it came. The team were great.
“The doctor was really good. He did all the checks he could do and at 3am said I could go home to rest and the cardiologist could take it from there on Tuesday.
“I was in my nightie, dressing gown and slippers.
“I asked a nurse if I could have transport home to Blackburn and she said ‘No, there’s a phone over there for taxis’.
“I said, ‘That’s no good for me, I haven’t got money with me. All I have is a bag with my medicines and my keys in my pocket’.”
Another nurse then suggested she sit on a plastic seat and wait for the bus – which would not turn up until 9am.
Read more: Documents reveal official doubts over viability of seven-day NHS service
She added: “I said I still had no money for my bus fare or my bus card and she just walked away.”
Jim Crombie, acting chief executive of NHS Lothian, said: “This was a distressing and upsetting episode for Mrs Hazzard and I would like to apologise to her that she had this experience following care in one of our hospitals.
“Mrs Hazzard has contacted us directly and we are investigating thoroughly to establish what happened. We will be in contact with her as soon as possible”
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