A CHESTER man has claimed that his sick mum has been 'left to die'.
Adam Cooper has raised concerns about the level of care received from the Countess of Chester Hospital, who have confirmed that his concerns are being investigated.
Mr Cooper, 30, from Blacon, has cared for mum Mary Anne all his life but she became poorly in June, 2024, and was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma called PTCL-NOS with CNS involvement.
Adam says it is a condition so rare it affects fewer than 100 people in the UK and his mum has been in and out of hospital with it since her diagnosis around 15 months ago.
He explained: “It’s a blood cancer through her body and central nervous system.
“It is Mature T Cells that become cancerous and start attacking the body through the lymphatic system and gradually make its way around the body into different organs.
“In the UK, there’s a void of information but in terms of how it affects mum is confusion and last year, she lost the ability to walk.
“She can move her legs, but she can’t stand – the most she managed with a bit of rehab was 30 seconds - but still needed two people to support her.
“Mum is immunosuppressed, like all oncology patients, lymphoma takes it that little bit further and it’s a master of disguise.
A patient in both Chester and Liverpool, Mary Anne was discharged from hospital in February this year only for Adam to discover that she was marked down as being in palliative care.
This was information he only found out through the receptionist at his mum’s GP practice, leaving him bewildered by the news.
He added: “We had an incident with ‘Hospital at Home’ in July this year as whenever mum has an infection, she just sleeps.
“I called the GP to say that I couldn’t wake her up to administer her meds.
“It was passed back to me that she was going to be placed on palliative care through the receptionist, over the phone, and not through a clinician at any point.
“When she was discharged, I was called and told that she was coming home and was there anyone to be there to meet her.
“I told them the flat wasn’t ready, and no-one had been out to check whether a bed would fit the lift or the flat.
“They just decided, without consulting us, she was coming home.
“I rang the person dealing with my complaint in tears to say she couldn’t come home while it was like this.
“Mum had been told she was terminal the previous December with treatment withdrawn in Liverpool, but she was never told that she was on palliative care.
“I started the process of pestering the GP to get hospice palliative care involved.
OTHER NEWS:
- Man was ‘fighting addiction’ when found driving while over the limit for cocaine
- New Chester store for lifestyle brand Rituals
- Justin Madders MP: A week is a long time in politics
“The Countess has, 100 per cent, left mum to die.
“It has made everything a problem with zero accountability and zero care – when mum went to A&E last year, we were there for 17 hours.
“Then a second time, it was 10 hours and in March this year, they said they implemented a new triage system based on mum’s experience.
“They had no documentation of pain assessment for her, even though one of her primary presentations was pain and they were told over the counter co-codamol wasn’t working.
“She had to wait hours for her medication but there’s no evidence of that triage system being in place.”
Adam was in A&E with his mum as recently as Sunday and said that none of the lessons have been learned, claiming she was left on a trolley in a corridor in ‘deep pain’.
He said that none of the staff who treated her wore PPE despite her being immunosuppressed.
He has long battled for improvements but believes the Countess has let Mary Anne down.
He claimed: “Her care in Chester was not good at all.
“There was a lack of personal care too; she had been in Chester a month before ending up in ICU in Liverpool and her hair was that matted, a nurse had to cut it off.
“She had thick dirt under her nails, and the hospital were leaving her like that despite them telling us she was at risk of infection.”
After Sunday’s experience in the hospital, Adam has now called for chief executive officer Jane Tomkinson to resign.
A Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “We have already been contacted directly by Ms Cooper’s family and are continuing to investigate their concerns.
"It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on an individual case.
"We encourage any patient with concerns to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).”
Share