Annex A > Chapter 9 - The Split Service > Comments by parents/patients > Transfer back from the BRI to the BRHSC
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Transfer back from the BRI to the BRHSC
84 Susan Jenkins, mother of Nathan, stated that, in 1984, she:
`... was approached by the nursing staff, and they asked did I mind Nathan being transferred back to the Children's Hospital because he was taking up a bed that someone else could have'. [84]
85 Robert Briggs referred in his written evidence to the Inquiry to the rapid rise in heart rate and temperature of his daughter, Laura, following transfer back to the BRHSC in 1988:
`We were told at the time that this incident may have arisen because of the transfer from one site to the other, and particularly in retrospect we feel that it was somewhat undesirable that she should have been moved so soon after her operation. At the time we did not question it because we were firstly worried for Laura and then relieved that it had all been sorted. We do not understand why it should have been necessary to move her quite so soon and it seems to us that it created a risk that preferably should have been avoided.' [85]
86 Bernadette Powell described how, in 1991, her daughter, Jessica, was moved back to the BRHSC by ambulance:
`Between the time I left the hospital and the time of my mother's arrival (about 11am), Jessica was moved to the Bristol Children's Hospital by ambulance. I could not believe that this had been done without either our knowledge or our presence. I had been in the hospital minutes before, and someone could have told me she would be moved. I was very upset, and was back in Bristol by lunchtime.' [86]
87 Michelle Cummings told the Inquiry of the transfer of her daughter, Charlotte, from the BRI to the BRHSC in 1987:
`She was moved by ambulance to the Children's Hospital, straight through casualty, and up to the Intensive Care and they did not even know we were coming. There was no intensive bed for her, no life support machine, and they were still hand ventilating her, so we went through to the baby unit and they were full up. There was no cot for her in there, because they were hoping they could have set up a mini intensive care in one of the rooms for her.' [87]
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Footnotes
[84] WIT 0252 0014 - 0015 Susan Jenkins
[85] WIT 0136 0006 Robert Briggs
[86] WIT 0240 0007 Bernadette Powell