Sussex NHS: Woman spends nine days in A&E in stroke unit wait

On 19 May, the woman had suffered a substantial stroke at the Amex Stadium just after 18:00 BST and was admitted to hospital just over 90 minutes later.

Her family said Brighton’s new £500m hospital had a stroke unit staffed by specialists, but their mother, on arrival, was given contradictory advice from clinicians regarding the implications of a clot-removing thrombolysis.

The family said she remained in the hospital’s assessment unit, next to the A&E department, where the staff were “helpful and kind” and so, too, were the stroke specialists who visited her.

But relatives said staff had told them the problem was bed-blocking by other patients ready to be discharged.

The family said their “quiet and uncomplaining” mother, severely disabled by her stroke, had whiled away her days in a general care unit, and the specialist support she needed had barely begun.

Describing the situation as a “scandal”, they said: “The effects this delay in treatment will have on the rest of her life remain to be seen.”