Sitting in a hospital cubicle, clutching his stomach... The picture that shows a father during the six-hour wait to be seen in A&E before he died



The picture Sarah Fleming took of her husband Stewart is one that will haunt her for ever.

Taken on her mobile phone, it shows him sitting in a hospital cubicle, a hand clutching his stomach, his face a vivid reflection of the agony he was in, as he waited to be seen by doctors.

Tragically, that picture is a heartrending reminder of the circumstances leading up to the railway signalman’s death. It is also a vivid illustration of the turmoil unfolding in overstretched hospital emergency departments.

Family man: Stewart Fleming with his wife Sarah, daughter Lauren and son Matthew

For the father-of-two, 37, from Rainham, in Kent, had to endure a six–hour wait to see a doctor in A&E at Gillingham’s Medway Maritime Hospital. He had a letter from his GP asking him to be admitted immediately.

He had been to see his GP that day because the antibiotics he had been taking for flu-like systems had failed to work. He was referred straight to hospital. But when he arrived, on December 15, 2008, the hospital was facing an unusually busy period. Staff sickness, a cold weather snap and an increase in GP referrals meant the hospital was under pressure.



He was admitted at 5.30pm, but was not seen until 11.15pm. By then, the mystery virus Stewart had contracted was attacking his heart, kidneys and liver. Despite being transferred to London’s Harefield Hospital, where he was placed into a drug-induced coma, he died on December 27.

Following his death, Stewart’s devastated wife said she could not understand why the ‘fantastic father’ had not been seen immediately. ‘He could have had all those hours on a monitor and they might have been able to stop the virus.’

Stewart Fleming in Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, with a virus which caused his organs to fail

Following the death, Andrew Horne, chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, admitted Stewart had waited too long to see a doctor. ‘That evening was very busy, the hospital was full,’ he said.

WAITING SO LONG IT COULD HAVE CAUSED DVT

She was a frail woman who deserved to be treated with dignity and kindness. Instead, Ethel Martin, 91, died after developing deep vein thrombosis having spent 16 hours on a trolley at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The great-grandmother was admitted to hospital on April 17, 2006, complaining of feeling breathless. Her family were with her when she was put in a curtained-off bay in the overstretched A&E department — the hospital saw 365 patients in A&E that day — at about 5pm.

They returned home in the early hours, assuming she would be cared for, but were shocked when they came back the next day at 9am and found her in the same position. She hadn’t slept because the trolley was so uncomfortable.



After Mrs Martin, of Chorlton, Greater Manchester, was found a bed, her condition deteriorated and she was diagnosed with DVT. She was treated with blood-thinning drugs but died on May 1, following a cardiac arrest.

At an inquest into her death, pathologist Dr Richard Fitzmaurice said lying on her trolley could have contributed to her death. ‘Immobility is a recognised factor in the build-up of deep vein thrombosis.’

A coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure, on the grounds Mrs Martin’s death was the unintended consequence of medical treatment.

Manchester Royal Infirmary, where Ethel Martin spent 16 hours on a trolley

A&E was said to have been experiencing ‘severe capacity’ problems that day and with in-patient beds full, the hospital adjusted its status from amber to red, to reflect its packed capacity.

This was of little solace to Mrs Martin’s daughter Pam Salts, who said of her previously active mother: ‘If she had gone into another hospital, maybe she would have lived.’

FAILED THE FIRST TIME SHE NEEDED THE NHS



June Harriman was forced to endure a nine-hour wait at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire — despite a triage nurse suspecting she had suffered a stroke.

The 52-year-old chambermaid, who lived with her husband William in Newcastle, Staffordshire, had to wait for six agonising hours in the waiting room — where she was slumped in her seat and needed help going to the toilet — before spending a further three hours in a cubicle waiting to be seen by a doctor in January 2009.

Minutes later the mother, who had been complaining of severe headaches and loss of balance, suffered a fit and a scan revealed a large growth on her brain. She died two days later, on January 10, from a brain aneurysm.

Mrs Harriman’s family reached an out-of-court settlement with the trust in June 2011 after hospital officials admitted her treatment fell short of acceptable standards. It said it had been under ‘sustained pressure’ with very high numbers of patients through A&E.

Daughter Sharon Whiston, who was with her mum at hospital, said they had been told to ‘wait like everyone else’. ‘It was the first time she’d needed to use the NHS and they let her down in the worst possible way.’

MY POOR MUM, 95, ON TROLLEY FOR 36 HOURS

Frail and wheelchair-bound, Margaret Hancock endured 36 hours on a trolley at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

The great-great-grandmother was taken to hospital by ambulance on August 8, 2010, after becoming increasingly unwell, suffering from diarrhoea. But it was more than four hours before the pensioner, who worked in a munitions factory during World War II, was seen by a doctor, and not until 12 hours later that she was put on a drip.

Margaret Hancock endured 36 hours on a trolley at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

That night the retired publican’s family, who had been keeping a bedside vigil, kissed Margaret goodnight before leaving her in a side room. They were devastated to receive a phone call the following morning, telling them she had died without leaving A&E.

A post-mortem showed she died after a gallstone blocked her bile duct, causing an infection and painful inflammation. At an inquest into her death, daughter June Gill said A&E had been ‘terrifying’. ‘There were drunks with injuries shouting at her and banging on doors and walls.

‘My poor mum was still stuck on a trolley, waiting. I had an old woman begging me to take her home and now I wish I had. I felt the staff felt she’d had her life and that’s it.’

Coroner Ian Smith said: ‘Just because you’re 95 doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be treated with care and dignity.

IT WAS LIKE PICCADILLY CIRCUS IN THERE



On the morning her husband Paul was taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in Buckinghamshire, Lyn Ryan had read an article in her local newspaper about long waiting times in A&E. So as she prepared to accompany her husband there because of health issues relating to the debilitating effects of peripheral vascular disease, she even joked they would have to be prepared for a wait.

¿It was like Piccadilly Circus at Stoke Mandeville; people everywhere not being dealt with,¿ said Mrs Ryan. 'The staff are fantastic, but just cannot cope with demand.'

In fact, after arriving at the busy hospital, Paul Ryan, 72, who had already had one leg amputated seven years ago, had to wait nine hours in A&E to see a surgical registrar, who confirmed he would need an operation to remove his remaining leg.

‘It was like Piccadilly Circus at Stoke Mandeville; people everywhere not being dealt with,’ said Mrs Ryan. ‘The staff are fantastic, but just cannot cope with demand.’

The couple, from Widmer End, were sent home and told they would be called three days later. The call never came, and as Paul’s condition worsened, Mrs Ryan dialled 999. Tragically, after a two-hour wait, he died on the way to hospital in January this year.