Body left unattended in hospital

By Eleanor Bradford
Health correspondent, BBC Scotland

The dead man lay in a ward at Stobhill Hospital for seven hours

A body was left alongside other patients in a Glasgow hospital ward for seven hours, it has emerged.

Christine Martin, from Glasgow, told BBC Scotland how her husband David was admitted to Stobhill hospital in June.

The man in the next bed died at about 1100 BST, but his body was not removed until after 1800 BST, it was claimed.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde agreed to leave the body until a relative arrived, but there was a further delay in the removal afterwards.

Health bosses made an apology for the additional delay and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon admitted there had been shortcomings on the board's part.

Mrs Martin said curtains were drawn around the dead body but "were open sufficiently for me to see this man, whom we had got to know over a period of 10 days, lying dead, face uncovered."

Christine Martin tells BBC Scotland how the situation developed

The dead man's son told BBC Scotland that hospital staff acted with "utter compassion" to his request to see the body on the ward before it was taken to the mortuary.

However, he confirmed he left the hospital at 1500 BST.

Mrs Martin added that in the days leading up to the man's death, another patient with a mental illness was admitted to the four-bed ward.

She said: "He tried to hit a nurse, fortunately he didn't succeed. For 24-hours-a-day, this man shouted, laughed, swore and sang at the top of his voice.

"So, effectively, we had three other very ill men who had no sleep day or night."

During the time in which his body lay in the ward, other patients were served two meals.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it was sorry for the upset Brian Taylor blogs on the matter

They and their relatives described the experience as "shocking".

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the case highlighted its campaign for all patients to be given more dignity.

Lynn McDowall, professional officer for the RCN, said: "The normal practice if someone has died in a four-bedded ward is to access a single room where the deceased could be viewed by the family and the family can have some time with the relative, and for that to be done in as dignified manner as possible.

"This case highlights the campaign we're running and highlights the kind of problems nurses come across, because no nurse would want a deceased patient lying on a ward for seven hours."

NHS GGC said it had apologised to Mr Martin and his wife but that the situation arose because the bereaved family had asked that the patient remain in the ward until a grieving relative could arrive by plane.

A spokesperson said: "We have acknowledged to the Martins that, beyond this, there was some delay in the transfer of the patient to the mortuary and steps have already been taken to ensure that this does not happen again."

NHS GGC said a single room could not be found for the disruptive patient because of the "greater clinical need of other patients".

Ms Sturgeon told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "In this case the family had asked that their relative remained on the ward while another family member got there.

"Notwithstanding that though, the health board recognised that after the family's wishes had been taken into account there was nevertheless a delay in moving the deceased patient from the ward.

"They've already taken steps to tighten the procedures around that, I think that was the right response."