Blundering hospital staff tucked Alzheimer's patient into bed at wrong house owned by 'somewhat confused elderly gentleman'

 
Blunder: Lilian Taylor, 88, after the error by hospital workers
10 October 2013

An elderly woman was left in a stranger’s bed by blundering hospital staff who took her to the wrong home.

Lilian Taylor, 88, had been undergoing treatment at the Homerton hospital in Hackney after being found collapsed at her sheltered housing unit.

But when she was released she was taken to an address she last lived at six months earlier - and tucked up in the bed of a “somewhat confused elderly gentleman”.

Her son Fred had become concerned after she failed to turn up at home several hours after being discharged. He asked her former neighbour to check whether she was at her old home.

Mrs Taylor, who suffers from dementia, was found “wearing only the nightdress she was discharged in”.

Sources said the man who let her into his home was himself confused and simply returned to watching TV after she arrived.

Mr Taylor said: “The events were awful. If I had been on holiday, or worse, my mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, may well not be here today.

“She could have been anywhere on the planet and would not have been aware. She’s so reliant on other people, even for doing her shoes up.”

He added: “I cannot believe they dropped her off in her nightdress. Her former neighbour lent her a dressing gown to go home with.”

Family Mosaic, which manages the property in Clapton, Hackney, where Mrs Taylor lives, say the ambulance crew that admitted her to hospital after she was found collapsed by her bed on September 24 was given a referral note with her up-to-date details.

Mr Taylor is demanding an inquiry into the incident.

Homerton hospital has agreed to investigate why the referral note was not passed on.

It is believed that Mrs Taylor had previously been a patient at the Homerton and her previous address in Clapton was relied upon by its patient transport service.

A spokesman said: “We take the safety of our patients very seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into how this incident occurred.

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“We are in contact with Mrs Taylor’s family and once the investigation is completed, we shall be providing them with further details of why Mrs Taylor was taken to her former address.”

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