Husband told his wife had died by nurses – but he finds her ALIVE on ward an hour later
FRANK Priddis heard the news no husband wants to hear.
His world fell apart when he was told by nurses his wife Sandra had died of bladder cancer.
But in a remarkable turn of events, he discovered his wife ALIVE just an hour later – after finding her asleep on a ward at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
The bus driver, from Exeter, Devon, said: “It turns out the nurse that had made the call had in fact picked up the wrong file and contacted the wrong family.
"I said ‘if this is a joke, it is a sick one’.”
The 63-year-old had been at home when he received the call from nurses that his beloved wife had died.
He drove straight to the hospital and rushed to his wife's ward – only to find her asleep.
Bungling nurses later confirmed they had mixed up the file with another patient.
He has since complained to the NHS Trust over the incident, but claims he and daughter Victoria have been "fobbed off".
He said: “No one can even begin to ever feel the pain, distress and anxiety that this caused myself, my daughter and my grandsons who were 12 and 14-years-old at the time, not forgetting the extended family too.
"This was the worst hour of my life by far as when I was in the car on the way to the hospital I told her that my life was now over, I had nothing left and I might as well give up."
Em Wilkinson-Brice, RD&E deputy chief executive and chief nurse, said: “Our staff make every effort to deliver the highest standards of compassionate care and support to patients and their families.
“We are therefore really sorry for this lapse and for the upset and distress it has caused Mr Priddis and his family.
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“We are very grateful for the time Mr Priddis spent with us discussing his complaint and for his constructive suggestions. We have taken these on board and as a result we have since changed our processes to minimise the risk of a patient being wrongly identified in this particular way again.
Frank said his wife Sandra has since died. He decided to not go public with his story at the time of the error in September.
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