A former hospital worker has spoken of how she donned gloves and cleaning materials to clean blood off a hospital bed

Muriel Brien took the action after nursing staff at Broomfield Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department in Chelmsford said they were too busy.

Now the 63-year-old has written to the chief executive of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust Andrew Pike expressing her concern about the incident amid national fears about the MRSA bug.

Mrs Brien of Kelvedon Close, Chelmsford, who has worked as an auxiliary in hospitals, went to Broomfield, which takes patients from areas including Maldon and Braintree, with a woman who had collapsed in the Meadows shopping centre.

She explained: " I could see that she was about to collapse and I managed to catch her.

"She was with a friend but the friend had panicked. I stayed with her until the ambulance came and then I took her friend to the hospital in my car."

Mrs Brien said there was not a bed in the Accident and Emergency department at first but when she was given one, there was blood on the rails.

A spokesman for the Trust said there was a complaints procedure operating at the hospital and letters would be forwarded to it to be dealt with.

Published Wednesday July 21, 2004

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