A Rosyth woman has accused NHS Fife of playing Russian roulette with her 93-year-old dad’s life after he cracked his head open falling out of his hospital bed.
Furious Elspeth Anderson blasted the facilities in ward 6 at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, where her father John was put in a bed without safety rails.
Elspeth, of Burnside Crescent, demanded answers as to why her dad was placed in such a “ludicrous” position for a man of his age.
She explained: “I got a phone call on Tuesday morning to say that he’d fallen out of the bed through the night at 5am and he’d banged his head. He has now got a gash and paper stitches.
“There were no bed rails on the bed to keep him in. They said he never usually moves but I am very angry. I asked in the hospital why they didn’t have bed rails and they said they’d didn’t need them. It is common sense that they do.
“It’s like playing Russian roulette. He got away with it one night and then the next night, but then eventually something happened. He is 93 for goodness sake.”
Elspeth feels her dad, who was admitted to hospital with a urinary infection, has had his confidence affected by the fall.
“He had been in ward 6 since a week past Monday and was doing fine. He was terribly shaken up by this and it’s put him back and taken his confidence away. He could have had a fractured skull.
“The bed he was in was a narrower bed, one of the old beds that they used to get years ago, where you have to put the backs up manually.
“I find it ludicrous and absolutely terrible. Nobody will believe that a hospital has not got bed rails on every bed. Even though a patient doesn’t need them up, surely they are there for emergencies if needed.
“Care homes have to have guidelines so why don’t hospitals?”
Elspeth’s dad has now been moved to Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, after her complaints were passed to management at the Kirkcaldy hospital.
NHS Fife director of acute services, Heather Knox, said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases although the safety of our patients during their stay in hospital is paramount.
“Each patient is individually risk assessed to determine whether the use of bed rails is appropriate.
“In instances where a patient is mobile and/or suffers from dementia then the use of bed rails may not be suitable as it is likely to add to the risk of the patient falling.
“I would urge the family involved to make contact with our patient relations department in order that their concerns can be discussed further.
“I would like to offer our support at this difficult time.”