Outrage as hospital staff takes discharged 83-year-old patient with morphine to the WRONG house, lets themselves in through a key safe and puts her to bed – where the homeowner’s shocked relatives found her the next morning
- Ms Wright woke up in someone else’s bedroom on Wednesday after a mix-up
An elderly woman was discharged from hospital on morphine, taken to the wrong house and accidentally put to bed by ambulance crews in Skegness.
Joyce Wright, 83, was wrongly allowed to leave Pilgrim Hospital in Boston and dropped off at a house owned by another patient, 40 miles from her home in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, on Tuesday.
Staff used a key safe in the house to gain entry, before taking Mrs Wright to the bedroom. The homeowner, another patient, was reportedly fired.
Her son Andy, 55, said he was not told that his mother had been sent home, but instead learned of the mistake when the other patient’s shocked relatives found Mrs. Wright in bed the next day.
Paramedics then went to the house on Wednesday morning where they found Mrs Wright still in the bedroom and took her back to hospital.
Mr Wright said he was ‘very angry’ when he heard about the ‘epic mistake’ and believed the incident was ‘a result of the pressure everyone is under’.
Joyce Wright, 83, was taken to the wrong house after being released from hospital
Andy, pictured with his mother, said he feared the ‘epic mistake’ could have been much more serious
Speak with the BBCAndy said the mistake was ‘absolutely shocking’.
‘It was dark and my mother was on painkiller and morphine, so it was obviously a bit confusing for her.
‘She wasn’t fully aware of where she was at the time and was clearly quite sleepy.’
He said he feared the outcome could have been more serious.
He told The sun: ‘It’s unbelievable. What if they gave my mother the wrong medicine? I thought patients wear wristbands, so this can’t be happening.”
Mrs Wright was in hospital after hip surgery.
She was reportedly mistaken for another female patient who was ready to go home.
Mr Wright said he was told his mother had been brought home instead of the patient in the next room.
‘This clearly falls under the standard of care that we want to provide. An investigation is underway to ensure this does not happen again,” a statement from the trust said
A statement from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and East Midlands Ambulance Service said: ‘We have spoken to both patients and their families to offer our sincere and sincere apologies.
‘This clearly falls under the standard of care that we want to provide. A review is currently underway to ensure this does not happen again.”
The trust has since launched an investigation into how the mix-up occurred.
Mrs Wright is said to be healthy and in ‘good spirits’.