'My mother died without dignity in A&E'

"Mum was denied a respectful way of dying and we have to live with these memories," says Michelle Smith.

She believes her mother, Joan Howard, should have spent her final hours in comfort, pain-free, in a clean bed and surrounded by her loved ones.

Instead, the blind 74-year-old was trapped in Doncaster Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency department for 27 hours, lying half the time on a trolley and then on soiled sheets in a hot and cramped cubicle.

Joan, from Balby in Doncaster, was admitted on 5 December 2024 after becoming critically unwell following recent treatment for an ulcer and E. coli infection.

Although NHS guidance states patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arrival to A&E, Joan remained in the resuscitation area for the first 14 hours.

When she was finally moved into a cubicle in the main area, Michelle says the space was so small there was no room for a drip stand, forcing nurses to tape her mother's fluids to the wall.

The standard of care continued to decline, says Michelle, with surgical and medical teams confused over who was responsible for Joan's care and the family's requests for help being ignored.

She describes repeated basic care failings, including oxygen not being reconnected after transfer, urine output not being monitored, routine checks not being carried out and poor pain management.

After an enema, a procedure to clear the bowel, she says her mother was left lying on the soiled sheets, forcing Michelle to source incontinence pads to relieve some of her discomfort.

"I could see Mum was deteriorating in front of my eyes and I couldn't help her," recalls Michelle, a former cardiac physiologist.

"No one was listening to me pleading to help my mum."

Michelle says the family's distress deepened when, midway through Joan's stay, they were told that she was not going to die, contradicting earlier medical advice.

Believing she was stable, relatives - including Joan's husband of 50 years - left the hospital.

Joan died a short time later after spending 27 hours in A&E, and with only her daughter present.

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Source: BBC News, 20 May 2026