A little girl suffered severely after hospital policy forced her to sleep on the cold floor.
Isabella
A dubious hospital policy nearly ruined the life of a toddler who waited EIGHT hours to be seen by a doctor had to sleep on a hospital floor despite being surrounded by empty beds.
The young Isabella Dalton, two, was rushed to hospital by her mum Jessica with an ear infection and tonsilitis after her temperature rocketed. But despite arriving at the Royal Preston Hospital, Lancs, at 11pm, she was not seen until 7am the next day. And because she had not been seen by a doc, little Isabella could not be given a hospital bed, even though she was surrounded by 12 empty ones.
Mom and daughter
Mum Jessica, 22, of Chorley, Lancs, was left furious after the tot was forced to sleep on the floor.
She said: “Isabella slept on the cold, hard floor in the waiting room surrounded by empty beds. Either side of the waiting room were rooms with around a dozen beds in. We could see them every time the doors opened. But I asked time and time again whether she could have one to make her more comfortable and they just kept telling me she couldn’t leave the waiting room until she had been seen.
"A doctor came into the waiting room to speak to one of the other parents, looked at the girls asleep on the floor and did nothing. Even if she had been given a blanket or anything to make her more comfortable would have been something, but she’s only a baby and she didn’t know how to try and make herself feel better. I will not be taking my daughter to Preston Hospital again. It was a shocking experience.”
Isabella was finally given antibiotics to bring her temperature down and is now waiting for a tonsillectomy at Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Her mum plans to make a formal complaint to hospital management.