‘We strongly suspect our mum was left to fend for herself’ in busy Lincoln County Hospital A&E says family of Grantham woman, 86

A son has spoken out about the treatment he fears his mother endured while he and his sister spent 18 hours trying to get answers from hospital medics.

Ann Chambers, 86, was taken to Lincoln County Hospital last Sunday evening after falling ill at Gregory House, a care home in Grantham.

Her son and daughter are devastated by the thought that her final hours might have been spent in “loneliness, confusion and distress”, as they battled to get through to the hospital while “not even realising that she was dying”.

What was finally witnessed in the busy A&E department has led them to believe their mother did not get the care she deserved.

Mrs Chambers’ son, who asked not to be named, was more than 100 miles from Grantham when he learned his mother had been taken to Lincoln County Hospital.

He said: “My sister, who lives in Essex, and I tried repeatedly to contact Lincoln hospital over the course of the next 18 hours to try to find out her condition and whether we could visit.

“No one picked up the phone, except a couple of times when they put it straight down again.

“Finally, on Monday evening, after a combination of shouting and pleading with the hospital switchboard I was put through to a clerk in A&E who said she would try to get someone to call me. For half an hour, no one called.

“In desperation, I set off in my car for the 40-minute drive to Lincoln County Hospital, resolving not to leave until I had seen her.”

During the drive, he received a call from the hospital, advising him to travel there immediately as his mother was “close to death”.

“When I arrived, Mum was unconscious and looked terrible,” he said. “She was in a side cubicle, just off the main A&E treatment area.

“The department was heaving with people; I estimate 200 people were waiting to be treated.

“My mother died within about 30 minutes. She did not regain consciousness. I will never know if she heard my final words to her.”

He added: “My sister and I will never know how she was treated in the period before she lost consciousness, but everything I saw that night leads me to fear the worst.

“She needed help to eat and drink. She was too weak to tell people if she needed anything.

“The doctors I spoke to seemed caring and conscientious, but we will always strongly suspect that, in a stressed environment, my mum was left to fend for herself.”

He has criticised a lack of communication from hospital staff about his mother and the failure to answer phone calls.

“I understand that the A&E department was busy. But failing to notify relatives in a timely way when someone is approaching death seems to indicate either a callous disregard for people's feelings or a level of chaos which is hardly compatible with a professional environment,” he said.

“My sister and I will now have to live with the torturing thought that our dear mother finally lost consciousness wondering why we were not there.

“We strongly suspect that her final hours were spent in loneliness, confusion and distress.

“This was a much-loved wife, mother and grandmother who ended her life effectively on her own, with her son and daughter not even realising that she was dying. A phone call to us earlier in the day could have allowed her to end her life far more appropriately.

“Answering just one of our many phone calls would have given us the information we needed to cause us both to come immediately.”

A hospital spokesperson said: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of Ann Chambers.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on individual cases, but will be liaising directly with the family around any questions they may have about her care.”

Mrs Chambers was a talented artist whose work was recently put on display.