‘They didn’t care’: Man left ‘livid’ after experience led him to leave Newark Hospital despite suffering severe heart attack

A man suffering a heart attack went more than a hour before treatment after experiencing a lack of ‘compassion’ at an urgent treatment centre.

Alexander Holderness, of Somerset, was driving back home from visiting family in Lincolnshire when he began experiencing serious chest pain and diverted his course to the nearest hospital on the advice of his wife Joan Holderness, a retired nurse following a phone call to her.

The 76-year-old arrived at Newark Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre on the afternoon of Thursday, September 25, ‘clutching the left side of his chest’ and believing he was having a heart attack.

Upon telling the receptionist he suspected this, he received the response ‘date of birth’ and upon providing this was told he was not registered and was asked for his details.

Mr Holderness, who could hardly speak from the pain, handed over his driving licence and again said: “I think I am having a heart attack”.

Then, spotting some staff members in a nearby room, he approached to seek assistance, but was told he could not be seen until booked in.

Mr Holderness he said he ‘could be collapsed on the floor’, and claims the staff member’s response was ‘well you’re not’ — which prompted him to say he ‘may as well go and die in the car’ and left the department intending to attempt to continue his journey home despite the pain.

Speaking of the experience, Mr Holderness said: “I’m absolutely livid, I left there clutching my chest having a heart attack — actually having one.

“I can’t blame the girl behind the desk, I don’t know what her orders were. She may have just been doing her job — but there was no compassion, no nothing. Not even an offer of seeing a nurse.

“They didn’t care.”

He made it along the A46 nearly to Leicester, before again pulling over to call his wife, as the pain wasn’t getting any better. He then made the decision to attend Leicester Royal Infirmary, part of the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

“At Leicester I received superb treatment,” Mr Holderness said.

“I couldn’t fault them. It was completely different.”

He described receiving emergency care including an ECG within seconds of walking into the hospital, which resulted in him being diagnosed with a STEMI — a severe type of heart attack where there is a long interruption to the blood supply which can cause extensive damage to the heart.

This type of heart attack needs urgent treatment to unblock the artery, and Mr Holderness was promptly transferred to the trust’s Glenfield Hospital for a stent to be fitted in surgery. He was discharged the following day after a successful procedure.

He added: “I’m still suffering, of course with a heart attack immediate treatment should be the number one priority.”

Driving to Leicester after failing to secure treatment at Newark added a delay of around an hour and a half to his care, and Mr Holderness has been left with damage to his heart and now suffers from breathlessness which he did not previously — although he hopes both will improve.

After her husband left Newark Hospital, concerned for his health, Mrs Holderness called the Urgent Treatment Centre and was told he had not been seen ‘as he was abusive’.

Mr Holderness admits he lost his temper when he left the centre but denies any abusive behaviour towards hospital staff, adding: “The wife is an ex-nurse — I wouldn’t pick on them”, and Mrs Holderness also questioned the claim and suggested that while he may have sworn with the pain, her husband ‘rarely’ is abusive.

Following her husband’s experience, Mrs Holderness wrote a letter of formal complaint to Sherwood Forest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Newark Hospital, on his behalf.

She requested phone records of her call and CCTV of the event to back this up — to which she was told there was no phone record, and no reply has yet come regarding the CCTV.

Mrs Holderness also suggested that had someone followed him as he left and offered him care, he would have returned to the hospital for treatment.

He letter added: “I have enclosed copies of my husband’s discharge summary (from Glenfield Hospital). He has been advised that he does have heart damage. The extent of the damage may have been significantly less if he had been treated appropriately at Newark Hospital.”

A formal response to the complaint is also still awaited by the couple.

Dr Simon Roe, chief medical officer at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are sorry to hear about Mr Holderness’s experiences when he visited the trust. We are currently in the process of investigating these concerns and will remain in direct contact with Mr Holderness as the investigation progresses.”