A FULL TIME carer in her 60s has called on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to allocate more resources and bed capacity to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and Ennis Hospital after suffering a “nightmare experience” sitting on a kitchen chair for 14 hours.
Geraldine Considine (67) from Ennis has outlined her very “upsetting and traumatic experience” when she was left sitting on a chair for 14 hours in UHL from 12.30pm on Thursday, June 16 to 2.30am on Friday, June 17.
This latest revelation comes hot on the heels of the Clare Champion story which highlighted the case of a young Clarecastle man suffering from a collapsed lung who claimed he was left “crying in pain” for hours at UHL before he received medication after contacting the ambulance control centre for urgent assistance.
Michael McCarthy, Clarecastle (24) recalled he had requested pain relief for approximately four and a half hours, which didn’t materialise until he rang ambulance control for help.
Ms Considine is still upset about her treatment.
“It is bad enough to be on a trolley but to be left on a kitchen chair with no arms was even worse. The ED was very full at the time,” she told The Champion.
“I was going to lie on the floor but I couldn’t do this because it was cold as there was a nearby window left open.
“I was very sick at the time. It was a very upsetting and traumatic experience at the time. I had so much to go through at home, experiencing this in hospital wasn’t easy.
“I got a Covid-19 test at 7.30am on Friday, June 17. Two hours later, the doctors asked me if I had the virus. I said I didn’t because I had had a negative test before I went into hospital.
Doctors told me I had Covid-19. I was on a trolley with an elderly man beside me and an old woman in front of me.
“I could have given Covid-19 to these people because at the time it was fairly rampant in the hospital.
“I was on a trolley for two hours until I was put into a cubicle. They came once to give me an antibiotic and the second time around 5pm I told them my drip was leaking. They went away and didn’t come back.
“I rang the bell and told them again my drip was leaking. They tried filling it again with fluid, which was going everywhere. They went away and didn’t come back.
“I got a bed at 1.30am on Saturday morning. They changed my drip and gave me my antibiotics.”
On June 21, the Ennis native who is now living in Clarecastle was discharged from UHL and was advised by the HSE to keep isolating after spending time in a Covid-19 ward.
Before her discharge, she was informed she would have to go for a colonoscopy. A week later, she discovered there wasn’t any colonoscopy booked for her, which prompted her to attend her GP, who referred her to the Medical Assessment Unit in Ennis.
Praising her brilliant treatment from staff in the MAU, she recalled receiving medication for low iron levels, a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. Covid-19 left a bad taste in her mouth, she was very tired and had to go back to bed in the morning and the evening.
Last May, Ms Considine attended the Local Injuries Unit in Ennis after hurting her shoulder and back in a fall at her home.
She said she was informed by staff there was no doctor in the hospital on a Thursday afternoon, which surprised her as she thought this was the main function of the unit to treat minor injuries.
This was her second trip to the LIU, having failed to see a doctor the previous day after she was told she would have to travel to UHL for treatment. She was forced to get treatment privately from the 365 doctor on call. The doctor told her she had hurt her ribs.
The mother-of-three is caring for husband, Patrick (66), from Clarecastle who had his first stroke on December 11 2017 before a second serious one about five days later, having been healthy before this.
Now confined to a wheelchair after a stroke on his left and right side, he needs supervision and assistance to prepare things before he has a shower. However, Geraldine acknowledged Patrick can be left for a few hours on his own when she goes shopping.
The HSE has paid for eight home help hours to assist her with some homework and cleaning. She said her husband is a very independent person who isn’t really interested in leaving the home for respite and prefers her to continue caring for him at home with some help from his sons.
The couple, who will celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary next Christmas met in at a dance in the West County Hotel in 1974 and got married in the Holy Rosary Church, Ennis Road, Limerick before their wedding reception in the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis.
One of her sons stayed with her husband while she was in hospital.
Describing this as a “new low” for UHL, Councillor Paul Murphy said it is hard to believe that a full time carer looking after her husband was treated in such an unacceptable fashion.
“It is out of this world that Geraldine had to experience this treatment, which she didn’t deserve.”
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.