"discharge and transport - Inverclyde Royal Hospital"

Our daughter was admitted on Friday, with DKA (she is Type 1 diabetic).  Ambulance staff also thought she might have sepsis, but this fortunately was not the case.  Admitted to HDU, very poorly and took longer than on previous occasions to recover from the DKA.  However, by Monday she was deemed medically fit to be discharged, even though the HDU had been trying to get her moved to a general ward and only didn't because there were no available beds. 

She had been admitted as an emergency by ambulance wearing indoor clothes, with no outdoor clothing at all.

She lives in a very remote area - from Greenock it requires a walk or bus ride, ferry journey and then long bus ride (if there is a bus).

Because she was deemed 'to have capacity' the hospital said they had no way of assisting her in getting home, so having been extremely poorly and still in a very weakened state, she was, we feel, effectively, abandoned by the hospital to make her own way home, in indoor clothes, in February.

I spoke to the ward manager, who explained they had no access to outdoor clothing, and were unable to assist with transport because 'she had capacity'. 

I am really shocked, that having put so much effort into getting her back to a normal state - and the treatment couldn't be faulted - she was then made to take a very tiring, potentially problematic, journey on her own, and whilst being severely underdressed for February!  The ward manager told me it was all discussed with her, and with the discharge co-ordinator and that she agreed to be discharged.  But what choice did she have?  The medical staff said she was fit, and there were no beds anyway.  There was no facility for providing suitable clothing so she felt she had no choice but to make the best of it and hope the journey went smoothly.  I spoke to her when she was waiting for the bus, and she was cuddling the radiator in the waiting room to keep warm!

I understood from the ward manager that transport is only available via ambulance and that there are no hospital cars available.  I find this quite astonishing, and a great lack for a hospital which serves a remote area where public transport is never going to be great, and may often not exist at all.  Not everyone has family or friends who are able to help and I cannot believe our daughter is the only patient ever to be in this position.  We just hope that the poor discharge circumstances do not impact adversely on her recovery.