"80 year old man left in corridor for 10.5 hours"

We would like to express our sincere apologies for your father's experience in our Emergency Department last week. I have discussed this with our senior management team who are aware of what happened and of your father's treatment. Unfortunately the day he attended was an exceptionally busy in the department and across the hospital. All of our senior Emergency Department clinicians and managers were in the department trying to ensure that patients were seen appropriately. This meant that some patients had to be moved to ensure that the most severely ill patients received appropriate treatment. Staff were aware of your father's needs and were trying to find a bed for him. We would hope that no-one in his position would have to wait for such a long time in such difficult circumstances, and are very sorry that he had this experience.

We understand that knowing the background to what happened will not negate the distress he, and you, felt during his visit to the Trust. However I hope that this explains how this occurred, and I would like to reassure you that at no point did our staff forget him or his needs.

We are focusing our attention on the department and working to ensure that even on busy days, patients will be seen within the 4 hour maximum wait.

if you have not already done so, please do contact our PALs department if you wish to make a formal complaint. You can contact them on Tel: 01689 863252 Email: slh-tr.br-pals@nhs.net