A PENSIONER who lives alone has criticised Hereford's healthcare trust for sending her home from hospital without a sufficient care package.

Glenda Vaughan-Powell from Newton Farm had heart failure in August and was rushed to hospital.

During the next few months she was taken to hospital four times and had major heart surgery in Birmingham.

After one hospital stay in Hereford, during which she suffered with pneumonia, she was sent home.

She said: "I was only just recovering and knowing full well I lived on my own they sent me home without a care package."

Ms Vaughan-Powell's doctor visited her and said she should not have been sent home and she was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she underwent surgery.

She was then brought back to Hereford and then returned home.

She said she was supposed to have care in her home and reablement for a month and at the end of the month she was meant to be assessed again. But she said she only received this for one week.

Ms Vaughan-Powell said: "I know there are problems with funding at the hospital but they shouldn't discharge people telling them they have got care packages in place when they haven't."

She said she is concerned about the closure of Hillside Rehabilitation Centre with the focus now being on caring for patients at home.

A spokesman for Wye Valley NHS Trust said: "It is a well-established fact that patients recover more quickly in the familiar surroundings of their home, rather than on a hospital ward."

He said there is a Home First service which is gathering traction across the country.

And added: "Wye Valley NHS Trust supports this approach through the provision of therapy (physiotherapist, occupational therapists and therapy assistants) with the local council providing care workers to support independence.

"At the point that a patient is ready to be discharged, WVT’s community teams undertake assessments to establish any need for equipment. They work in hand with the trust’s reablement service which ensures further support for the patient in their own home.

"This service provides therapy goals for individuals, with the service providing up to four weeks’ support to help patients to achieve a certain level of independence and function.

"If the patient achieves this target earlier, the service can be withdrawn earlier so staff can support other patients."

He said they are disappointed to hear if a patient feels the quality of care has fallen below the standard they expect and said official complaints can be made through the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.