'I've sworn not to go back to hospital'

LUNG PATIENT WHO SPENT MORE THAN TWO DAYS ON A CORRIDOR SAYS CRISIS IS 'COSTING PEOPLE'S DIGNITY'

- By JONATHAN BLACKBURN

A LIVERPOOL woman says she swore she would not go back to hospital after being treated on a corridor last year.

Karen Guy, 60, has spent time in hospital over the last three years with the lung condition COPD.

Despite worsening symptoms, Karen has stayed away from hospital and is treating herself at home in Vauxhall after experiences at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

She said: "The last three Februarys I have spent in hospital with my chest. I could feel it getting bad again, and I swore I wasn't going in again."

Karen was admitted to the Royal on February 16 last year, spending six hours on a trolley on the corridor of the A&E department before being transferred to a bed on the assessment unit, and then on the respiratory ward, where she spent two days on a corridor.

She discharged herself against clinical advice four days later.