THE heartbroken sister of an emergency patient who died after waiting five hours on a trolley in a corridor of Worcester hospital has slammed the care he received in a damning open letter to an NHS boss.

John Flaherty, aged 55, of Dines Green, Worcester, was taken to Worcester’s A&E department with a broken hip following a fall on Friday, April 10.

It was the same day a ‘disaster doctor’ had to be called in by the ambulance trust because all the A&E beds were full.

Mr Flaherty died at the same hospital just four days later.

Last week the ambulance trust accused the hospital trust of refusing to triage patients so they could be given pain relief and have also reported them to health and social care regulator the Care Quality Commission, demanding the hospital trust record what happened on that day as ‘a serious incident’.


Mr Flaherty’s sister, Terri Preece, was angry when the deputy chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust told the Worcester News no patients suffered harm as a result of being treated on the A&E corridor on the day.

Mrs Preece has now written an open letter to Chris Tidman, the trust’s deputy chief executive, to complain about his care.

Mr Flaherty, a father of five and grandfather of three, suffered from both epilepsy and emphysema.
“He was taken to A&E with a fractured hip and was left on a trolley for hours.

He suffers from epilepsy and had a fit that evening and from there he went downhill,” said Mrs Preece.

He slipped into a coma and died at 9.20pm on Tuesday with all his loved ones around him but in total shock.

Mrs Preece said: “John did have underlying health issues but I feel if he had been seen sooner we may be looking at a different outcome.We are heartbroken.”

In the open letter to Chris Tidman she wrote: “Mr Tidman, having read your comments relating to a meltdown at Worcestershire Royal Hospital stating that no patients came to harm let me tell you about John Flaherty a very much loved father, brother and grandad, an avid Birmingham City fan a very well know and loved guy.
“John fell at his home in Dines Green on Friday, April 10 he was taken by ambulance to Worcestershire Royal arriving approximately 6pm.

“Pain relief was offered via injection but John had a fear of needles.

“John was still on a trolley at 11pm not having been seen. Having underlining health issues John was vulnerable .

"Leaving him on a trolley with what we know now was a fractured hip caused him unbelievable stress and pain which we believe contributed to his deterioration.

“The medical staff at the end did all they could for John. But he was massively let down on admission which we are all trying to make sense of. God bless you John my dear brother.”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are very sorry to hear about the concerns around Mr Flaherty’s care in our A&E department.

“We would be very happy to speak to his relatives so that we can carry out a full investigation, and we would urge them to contact our Patient Services team so that we can get in touch.

“We are continuing to work very hard with health and social care colleagues across the county to overcome some of the challenges that we are currently facing in our emergency department, and deliver long-term improvements for our patients.”

The MIO was sent in because the ambulance service at one point had no ambulances to send out on 999 calls in Worcester because crews were providing care to patients at the Royal.