Hospital A&E ‘is one of the best’

Nick Turpin, 33, told how he was forced to rush his wife, Penny, 32, out of Bromley Hospitals A&E unit to Lewisham University Hospitals A&E, because doctors were ignoring her plight.

Mrs Turpin, seven months pregnant and a chronic asthma sufferer, was in Bromley Hospital on November 27 gasping for air for more than 30 minutes as she waited for life-saving injections which only doctors can administer because she is pregnant.

The couple, from Orpington, are used to going to hospital to receive injections of drugs and steroids to fight off the asthma, but Mr Turpin was not prepared for the lack of urgency of by Bromley Hospital staff.

He said: I couldnt believe the nurses attitude. I asked if I should get our own nebuliser from the car. He just said Okay. If you want, as if he really did not care.

Mr Turpin gathered up his wife who has to use her nebuliser every four hours, day and night and drove her to Lewisham University Hospital where she was assessed and immediately treated with a nebuliser and injected with the life-saving drugs.

She was then transferred to a High Dependency Unit where she was kept under

24-hour supervision for 10 days until Thursday, December 7.

Mr Turpin said: I would like to thank the staff at Lewisham for seeing the urgency of the situation and treating my wife quickly.

Lewisham has always been a good hospital. You hear horror stories, but of all the hospitals weve been to with my wifes asthma, Lewisham is one of the best.

Sister Del duKamp from A&E at University Hospital, Lewisham, said: It is always good to get positive feedback on the service we provide. Staff here work under a lot of pressure and a word of thanks from the people we are helping and treating means a lot to us.

A spokesman for Bromley Hospitals Trust said: We are very concerned they did not feel they received good care in our A&E. We would like them to contact us so we can investigate their worries fully.