Scots slam blundering hospital staff for falsely telling them son was ill in A&E

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Parents have criticised blundering hospital staff after receiving a call to say their son had been admitted into their care - when he was actually in bed at home 16 miles away.

Frazer Edwards' mum and dad, who live in Orkney, were left worried sick when they were telephoned late at night by a medic at the QEQM Hospital in Margate, Kent. They were told their son was "not very conscious" and suffering a mental health crisis, causing particular concern as Mr Edwards had been struggling with the recent death of his partner.

But the 32-year was in fact tucked up in bed at his home in Canterbury and oblivious to the panic developing around him.
It would be hours before his parents, Kay and Chris, who stayed awake into the night anxiously awaiting updates, would learn the hospital had made a mistake.

Mr Edwards said: "There's my parents in the Orkney Islands, as far away from Kent as you can possibly get, panicking and worrying. What we've been told is a gentleman had rocked up to A&E and staff had somehow logged this patient as me on the system.

"They were telling my parents I wasn't very conscious, they weren't sure if I'd gone off the rails or something - but I was asleep in bed. I woke up to all these messages and missed calls saying, 'Are you OK?'.

"How many other people has this happened to? It's just not good enough."

Mr Edwards had been out celebrating his birthday in Rochester on Saturday, October 19 - his first since the unexpected death of his partner, Tyrone, in July. With their son grieving, Mr Edwards' parents naturally held concerns about his wellbeing even before receiving the call from the QEQM at about 10.45pm.

They telephoned the hospital multiple times, but they were left waiting until 2am before it was established their son had not in fact been admitted. Mr Edwards says it is believed a man arrived at the QEQM's A&E department and gave a name similar to his before being handed over to mental health teams.

It is understood an investigation has now been launched by hospital bosses to find out how such a mistake was allowed to happen.

"My dad said the mental health team actually did a very good job ascertaining after many, many hours that it wasn't me," said Mr Edwards. "I suppose that's a slightly positive angle because they did a good job, and my dad and mum were very impressed with them.

"But they still felt, obviously, very, very worried - especially my mum, as you know what mums get like. It's a data breach. The hospital has said they're sorting that out, and all this random person's data that was logged under my profile has now been removed. But that's not the point; as I said before, it's just not good enough and it could have been a lot worse."

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A spokesman for the East Kent Hospitals Trust told KentOnline: "We apologise to Frazer and his family. We take complaints of this nature extremely seriously and are looking into this matter."

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