A hospital has been criticised for sending a 93-year-old patient home in the middle of the night

Lorna Mansfield was taken by ambulance to casualty at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, after she lost consciousness at home at about 7pm.

Her son Brian Mansfield, 58, had called 999 after he could not wake her.

But he was "flabbergasted" when a doctor called him just hours later at 1am to say they were bringing her back to his house.

Mr Mansfield, who works at Tesco's in Great Dunmow and lives in Lynmouth Avenue, Chelmsford, said: "That night she had a very bad turn. I thought she had died.

"I was told to go home and stay by the phone. A doctor rang me back at about 1am and told me she had a crackly lung, a chest and urine infection and something wrong with her white cells.

"Then he told me they were bringing her back I panicked. I couldn't believe it.

"They said there was no need to keep her in there. It's deplorable."

A hospital spokeswoman said: "If people are brought into the accident and emergency department and do not require hospital admission, no matter what their age or the time of day or night, they are discharged after treatment.

"If people are vulnerable or old we would make sure they have ambulance transport home so we can settle them into their house."

Mrs Mansfield is now being cared for in a residential home in Chelmsford

Published Monday, January 27, 2003

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