Latest news with #patienttransport
CBS News
3 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Air conditioning out at Chicago's Weiss Memorial Hospital, patients sent elsewhere
Patients at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood had to be transported elsewhere with the air conditioning out on Tuesday afternoon. CBS News Chicago spoke with one family who said the thermostat read 87 degrees in her mom's room at Weiss before the woman was transported. The hospital said it may take several days before the system is back up and running. Patient after patient was seen being transported out of the emergency doors of Weiss Memorial Hospital, at 4646 N. Marine Dr., on Tuesday evening. Each one was loaded into ambulances due to what authorities called the "catastrophic loss" of the air conditioning system. "That's why we've got everything — two fans in here. She got one USB," John Celestino, who came to visit his 92-year-old mom in the morning, said as he went through a bag of items he brought. "It's like, 'This is weird.' I start seeing AC units or portables in the hallway." Half a dozen repair trucks were seen outside the back door of the hospital on Tuesday. Hospital management said the aging infrastructure has not been properly maintained by previous owners. "Thanks to the city of Chicago inspector that I saw earlier, and I was like, 'OK, they're here for, you know, something serious now,'" said Celestino. In the meantime, patients like Celestino's mom are being transported to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and other area hospitals. "What we heard from the staff that the AC's been down for months," Celestino said. While it was not known Tuesday night how long the system had been out, Celestino said they know the air conditioning has not been working in his mom's room since Saturday. "For a hospital, you know, it's really, you know, totally unacceptable and sad," Celestino said. The hospital said the outpatient and supporting areas were not impacted. The emergency room is redirecting ambulances, but is open to walk-in patients. However, any patients who need to be admitted will be transported to another facility. Weiss released the following statement: "Weiss Memorial Hospital has experienced a catastrophic loss of its air conditioning system. A team of mechanics are working diligently to restore the systems which is estimated to take several days given that the aging infrastructure had not been properly maintained by its previous owners. Once the repairs are completed the hospital will need to be cooled to a comfortable temperature before being allowed to resume operations. "In the interest of patient safety, we have transferred most of our valued patients to our sister hospital West Suburban Medical Center and have tapped other area hospitals to assist. The outpatient areas and its supporting areas will remain open as those areas are not impacted. Our Emergency Room is re-directing ambulances but remains open for walk-in patients. If any of these patients need admission, they will be stabilized and transferred to another facility. "We are all working to resolve this matter. Inconvenience to everyone is deeply regretted."
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Hospital bosses axe patient home transport service
Hospital bosses have decided to end a service that took patients home after they had been scheme, which was run by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, served patients Preston and Chorley hospitals and meant people who did not have their own transport did not face long waits for ambulances. The Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned the transport ended last month. The Trust, which is looking to save £60m, described it has an "additional private service" and said the contract had not been renewed. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Ambulance no-shows fail disabled Lincolnshire patient
A disabled patient has missed seven appointments in nine months because his pre-booked ambulance transport has failed to turn Ellis, 87, relies on East Midlands Ambulance Service's (EMAS) patient transfer service to get him to hospital appointments due to a neurological condition that affects his mobility. He has used transfer services for 15 years, but has recently been unable to get to any of his Weldin, divisional director for non-emergency patient transport service at EMAS, said it had not delivered the "high standard of service we hold ourselves to". Mr Ellis said: "Apart from making me exceedingly angry, it upsets all the hospital staff as well because they get thrown into chaos. "We can't see the consultant."If we miss a consultation, they're entitled to strike us off and we have to get re-referred. It does cause quite considerable problems."Mr Ellis's son Stephen said each time an appointment had been missed, the family had raised a complaint through PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service). "On the four or five apology letters my dad's received, they have been apologetic. They have accepted blame," he said. In the family's most recent letter of apology, seen by BBC Look North, EMAS said it had classed Mr Ellis as a "priority patient".However, since the letter was received, Stephen said there had been three further occasions where an ambulance had not been sent. "So, it's a false promise," he said. Mr Ellis has Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) which leads to progressive nerve damage due to the immune system attacking the myelin sheath, the protective covering of nerves. It affects his mobility, he requires round the clock care and is unable to travel by car. He needs regular CT scans and Ellis's transport is booked two weeks in advance and he is asked to be ready two hours before each appointment."They just say a vehicle hasn't been allocated. They don't say why," Mr Ellis said. "One of the last calls we had was that they couldn't find a vehicle. "He came back to us eventually and said, 'We've found a vehicle but we can't find a crew for it now.'" 'Incredibly high' demand Stephen said he hoped highlighting his father's experience would "trigger somebody to do something about it and provide the service that they're being paid to provide".EMAS said it faced an "incredibly high" level of demand for its service, providing over 390,000 patient journeys across the East Midlands last year, with each one "requiring careful planning and coordination". Ms Weldin said: "I would like to say how very sorry I am for the service provided to Mr Ellis. I can only apologise and say that we are always working hard to improve." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
