Delay could have cost our mum her life (From Thurrock Gazette)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting TGNEWS to 80360 or you can email us Click here for details »
Delay could have cost our mum her life
7:40am Friday 15th March 2013 in News
Daniel Chapple and sister Rachel Mailley with a picture of Pamela
THE FAMILY of a woman believe her life could have been saved if Basildon Hospital had acted sooner.
When Pamela Chapple started being sick and said she “felt like her head would explode” at her home in South Ockendon, she dialled 999.
The paramedic discovered her blood pressure was very high and she was taken to Basildon Hospital in an ambulance.
Tests were done and she was discharged the same evening.
But the next day, the grandmother-of-seven called her husband, Brian, home from work to say she still felt unwell. She collapsed and was again taken to hospital by ambulance.
It was there she was diagnosed with a serious brain haemorrhage and the family were told she had to be transferred to Queen’s Hospital, Romford.
She wasn’t transferred until 2.30am – some six hours after she arrived at 8pm.
Daniel said: “They said they had contacted Queens and the ambulance would be here in half an hour. Half an hour came and went.
“I didn’t want to seem pushy, but I asked what was going on. They said they didn’t have the authority to use blue flashing lights.
“They told us they wouldn’t take her unless she deteriorated. They just said their hands were tied.”
Pamela, who worked at Beacon Hill Academy, in Ockendon, had surgery at Queen’s Hospital, but never regained consciousness.
Daniel said: “My dad asked could more have been done if we had got there sooner? A doctor at Queen’s said ‘undoubtably yes’. I don’t want anyone else to go through this.”
The family have complained to Basildon Hospital. A hospital spokesman said: “The trust believes Mrs Chapple received a good standard of care at all times.
“We recognise Mrs Chapple’s family may be unhappy about a clinical discussion they overheard while their mother was being treated in the A&E department.
“These discussions, as well as the criteria for transferring patients to Queen’s, will be explained as part of our dialogue with the family.”
