Family to lodge a complaint over their mum’s end of life care

By Dionne Meehan

THE daughter of a Newtowcunningham woman, who died days after she was told no in-home weekend palliative care was available for her after being discharged from hospital, is calling for change.

Having previously beat breast cancer, Bernadette Doran (74) was given the devastating news in March that her cancer had returned and was aggressively spreading throughout her body.

Mrs Doran spent one week in Letterkenny University Hospital prior to her passing, but it was her wish to spend her final days at home.

Sadly, she died at home on Sunday, March 24. Her final visit from the community palliative care team in Donegal Hospice was two days earlier.

Speaking to the Donegal News, Mrs Doran’s heartbroken daughter Fiona Bowdren said despite her family’s reservations about her mum’s wishes, she said she and her family were reassured by staff at the hospital that in-home palliative care would be available, and that her mum would be under the radar of Donegal Hospice.

But she said this was not the case, and her mum was left with no in-home palliative care during her last days.

In a statement to the Donegal News this week, a HSE spokesperson confirmed community palliative care is provided by Donegal Hospice from Monday to Friday on a 9am to 5pm basis.

“Outside of these times patients can contact the GP Out of Hours Service and in the case of an emergency can contact 999.

“A handover takes place each Friday afternoon following which a list of community dwelling patients who may need additional supports over the weekend, are given to GP Out of Hours Service, National Ambulance Service, ED Department in LUH and Community Intervention Team (Nursing),” the spokesperson said.

Ms Bowdren said her mum had been “let down” by the healthcare system previously. Having undergone a mastectomy in November of last year, Mrs Doran, who also suffered with COPD, began experiencing a soreness in her back.

A chest x-ray at the time was clear and showed no signs of cancer. However, it did show signs that her COPD had progressed and Mrs Doran’s health continued to deteriorate.

After spending weeks suffering, Mrs Bowdren said her mum finally reached out for help in March by ringing an ambulance for herself in the hope that she would receive urgent care on her arrival to the hospital, given her age and circumstances.

But instead, Mrs Bowdren said her mum was left waiting in the Emergency Department of LUH for 24-hours due to being one year below the hospital’s protocol of prioritising those aged 75-years and over.

In a statement to the Donegal News, a Saolta spokesperson confirmed protocol measures.

“The staff in the Emergency Department have a focus on the care of the >75 years and where possible they are given priority once urgent patients in need of care have been attended to.”

Reflecting on her mum’s experience within the healthcare system, Ms Bowdren said her mum entered the Emergency Department on March 12 at 1pm.

She was seen by a doctor and underwent a CT scan before returning to the waiting area.

“At one stage, she wanted to go home and we told her she needed to stay,” Ms Bowdren said.

A number of hours later, Ms Bowdren said she was told her mum was being admitted.

Content that her mum was going to receive the care she needed, Mrs Bowdren said she went home a short time later as she had work the following morning.

But when Mrs Bowdren returned to LUH at 1pm the next day, she found her mother still sitting in the same place for a whole 24 hours.

“I asked to speak to the manager of the ward of casualty and a young lady came out to me.

“I said, ‘I appreciate you are very busy but I am giving you one hour to get my mother into a bed and if you don’t, get me someone I can speak to because she has been sitting all night’,” said Ms Bowdren.

Mrs Doran was given a bed in the short stay unit a short time later. Following a series of scans, Ms Bowdren was told the devastating news that her mum had tumours in her breastbone, her lung, her liver and in her lymph nodes.

“We got her home the following Wednesday,” Ms Bowdren said.

“Before she went home, they told me there would be palliative care available, that they would come and see mammy at the house, and that she would be under the radar of the Hospice Doctor.

“We were told if she needed anything, the Hospice would be at our beckon call,” said Mrs Bowdren.

But Ms Bowdren said that was not the case.

“We phoned the Hospice on Saturday morning at 10.45am expecting a doctor to come out and see my mother.

“I was told by the person who answered the phone in the hospice that there was no doctor available to come out to my mum. I asked her if there was a nurse that was available to come out to provide palliative care but I was told there wasn’t, and that I had to phone NowDoc.

“That wasn’t the information we were given by Letterkenny Hospital,” she said.

“My mammy didn’t last very long, you can just imagine how ill she was when she sat in casualty that day.

“I would not have let a dog sit that long without getting a vet to look at it.

“Mammy was a patient in the hospital from March 13 to March 20. She died at home on March 24.”

Mrs Bowdren said it was “unacceptable” that her mum spent 24 hours siting in accident and emergency in what were the last few days of her life.

“Mammy didn’t live two weeks after that.”

Mrs Bowdren is now in the early stages of lodging a complaint.

“There are so many questions that I have and we are not letting it go.

“I would not like to see anyone else sit and go through that.

“Never mind the person that is sick, for the family to have to sit and watch it is just horrendous as well,” she said.

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