A PATIENT waiting for a brain scan had to sleep on a hospital floor for four weeks.
Former roofer Michael Collins, 54, was kept on a receiving ward – where patients are supposed to stay for only two days – to wait for an MRI scan he has still not received.
And because his head injury left him prone to violent outbursts, it was stripped of all its furniture, including
his bed, leaving him to lie on a mattress on the floor.
He was given a chair after three weeks.
But it was only when his partner Suzanne Brown contacted the Daily Record that a bed was put back in his room at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
He has now been moved to the Southern General, which specialises in head injuries. But he is still waiting for his scan to be scheduled.
Suzanne, 50, said last night that Michael, who had to give up his job when he was diagnosed with epilepsy five years ago, struck his head during a seizure about six
weeks ago.
weeks ago.
Suzanne, from Blackhill, Glasgow, said: “We took him to A&E at the Royal and he was kept in overnight.
“He had another fit the next morning so they kept him in for another few days. But a couple of days later he walked out of the hospital at 3.30am.
“He threw all his medication away and walked out dressed only in his slippers, pyjamas and housecoat.
“Clearly, mentally he was not right. Before he banged his head he was fine. He had no mental health issues whatsoever.”
Suzanne took Michael to his own GP next morning and he wrote a letter for him to take back to A&E.
She said: “We waited seven hours in casualty then he was put in a receiving ward and you are supposed to be there for a maximum of two days.
“He was supposed to be going to the Southern to get an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture but they cancelled his appointments three times.
“The last time, they said it was because of an emergency. But what is Michael if not an emergency?
“I know there is something wrong with his brain. If they would just give him the scan we could find out what is the matter with him.
I thought they would at least have given him a bed with cot sides so he couldn’t get out or do himself an injury.
“When he went in at first he was quite violent, throwing things about, so they took
everything out his room.
everything out his room.
“He keeps going back to when he was a boy and still thinks his mum and dad are alive.
“A hospital psychiatrist has seen him and does not think he has dementia so we can only presume it is a brain injury.
“He is now in a room of his own in the Southern with a bed and a shower in it.
“We still don’t know when he’ll get his scan because he is going to be under observation for a week. It is ridiculous that it was only after we mentioned the Record that anything was done, despite me asking for help for weeks.”
An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokeswoman said: “The patient presented with extremely challenging behaviour and for his own protection and personal safety had to be nursed with only a mattress in his room.”
Two nursing staff are now with Michael round the clock.
source:dailyrecord.co.uk
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