'Six-hour wait' after miscarriage

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/derbyshire/7642945.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A hospital in Nottingham said it did all it could to help a Derbyshire woman who said she was left waiting for six hours after having a miscarriage.

Charlotte Hart, 19, from Ilkeston, said she eventually had to make her own way home in her pyjamas.

Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) said an investigation was under way into what had happened.

Staff made every effort to find her, but could not locate the patient, a QMC statement said.

Ms Hart said she was left for hours in the waiting room before her miscarriage was confirmed and the experience has left her distraught.

'Extremely distressing'

"They left me sitting for so long, to tell me that I had miscarried," she said.

"I had a lot of emotions going through me, with it being my first baby that I'd just lost.

"And I didn't know what to do, what to expect. I just wanted to go home."

We were not asked to deal with this case as an emergency East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman

She also said she had to wait about an hour for an ambulance to arrive to take her to the hospital.

Anne Crompton, acting clinical lead for Maternity Gynaecology and Neonates, said: "Miscarriage is an extremely distressing and emotional time for women and nurses and doctors make every effort to provide all women with appropriate and timely support.

"Unfortunately when the patient was called for her scan, she had temporarily left the ward.

"Staff made every effort to find her before offering the slot to the next emergency patient.

"The patient was offered the next available slot."

A spokesman from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) said: "We were not asked to deal with this case as an emergency."

He said the surgery had made a "doctor's urgent" transport request and the ambulance had delivered Ms Hart within the expected time.