Patient slumped dead for more than four hours before being spotted at one of Britain’s busiest A&Es
A failure to carry out hourly checks meant the body was left for hours in North Middlesex University Hospital
A PERSON lay dead for four-and-a-half hours in a busy A&E department because staff were not regularly checking on patients, it has emerged.
Hourly checks on patients to ensure they were comfortable were not carried out at North Middlesex University Hospital - leaving the corpse unnoticed.
The revelation emerged in a damning audit of the hospital, which found there was a "lack of respect and dignity in the way patients are treated".
The report said inspectors were told how "a failure to take hourly rounds meant that a patient had lain dead for up to four and a half hours before being found".
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Other incidents included a patient being left on a bedpan for more than an hour and nursing staff being "heavy handed" when treating patients.
It went on: "Patients' overall comments showed there was a lack of compassion, respect and dignity shown to patients."
People deemed at risk of developed pressure ulcers were also left lying on trolleys for up to 13 hours.
Others on trolleys were not properly covered up in a breach of their dignity, the report stated.
"One family member said: 'It is not ideal that my mum has to be on a trolley in the hallway. She has blood on the side of her face and she has not been cleaned up yet. It is embarrassing for her'."
In another instance, the Care Quality Commission inspectors were told staff "rowed with each other and were heard screaming 'I am not doing that or you are not doing that' in front of patients".
A statement from the North Middlesex University Hospital stated it recognised "urgent improvements must be made to its accident and emergency department".
It also acknowledged the report's finding that its services were "inadequate".
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