Family's hospital fight for Rugby patient left 'screaming in agony' with broken hip

An elderly Rugby patient’s family have had to fight to get hip replacement surgery speeded up.

Despite being in agonising pain and unable to walk, Jean Morgan, 85, looked set to be discharged from hospital.

She was admitted to Rugby’s Hospital of St Cross with a collapsed hip on March 10.

Her daughter, Annette Kinsella, said: "My mother is reliant on morphine which does little to control the pain and she still screams in agony.

"She cannot move at all and cannot sit up in bed and because of this she frequently chokes when eating or taking tablets. Despite this, she has been told she is low priority for a hip replacement by UHCW.”

They family were prepared to pay for Jean to have the surgery done privately.

"We had to fight desperately and she is now in hospital waiting for surgery,” added Annette.

"I just wonder how many other families are affected in this way and resign themselves to years of agonising pain?”

She said plans were in place to discharge her mother.

“We couldn’t allow this to happen,” said Annette.

"It could’ve been fatal.”

She said the orthopaedic specialist at UHCW took less than five minutes to reprioritise Jean.

“He highlighted that if mum had been discharged she would be bedbound and at risk of infection and sores,” added Annette.

“We are really pleased that she has been correctly assessed, but I am shocked at the scale of the battle it took to get here. I'm also appalled that they were planning to discharge her when she could not walk at all and was in agonising pain.”

She has called for a review on the Trust’s prioritisation policies and has asked Coventry MP Colleen Fletcher to continue to look into the situation at St Cross.

Annette, a mother of two, said: “I have also raised a formal complaint.

"While we are really pleased with the outcome and we would like to thank all the wonderful doctors and nurses providing fantastic care for their patients, we are really concerned about the systemic failings at the hospital that led mum to be in this terrifying situation.”

A spokesman for UHCW Trust said: “UHCW NHS Trust aims to provide the highest standards of patient care and continues to reduce waiting times for surgery.

“We know waiting can be stressful and, while we are unable to comment on individual cases, we have remained in constant dialogue with Mrs Morgan and her family.

“All patients are assessed on their clinical needs and we expect Mrs Morgan’s surgery will be undertaken in the near future.”