A paralysed mum said she was ‘stuck in hell’ after lying in her own filth claiming hospital staff refused to clean her.
Cheryll Rich, 38, lost her ability to move anything from the waist down after breaking her back falling into a canal lock last August.
She was taken initially to St Mary’s Hospital in London for emergency spinal surgery before being transferred to the Linford Ward at Basildon University Hospital, where she stayed for five days in September last year.
It was during her five-day stay that she felt ‘dehumanised’ and at her ‘lowest point’ after claiming hospital staff refused to clean her despite being ‘covered in faeces’.
She said hospital staff handed her partner, Jack Barnes, 51, a bowl of water and told him to do the cleaning himself.
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The mum told Daily Mail: ‘I felt like I wasn’t human.
‘I felt dehumanised and demoralised.
‘I felt the lowest point I possibly could have been.’
Ms Rich, who is wheelchair-bound, said she was also on her period, and was left to sit in her blood and faeces which covered her recent stitches.
She said: ”I was on my monthly cycle and my other half had to clean me when I was not only covered in faeces but in blood too.
‘From the bottom of my back and up to my bum – all over my stitches and everything – it was covered in faeces.’
Her catheter remained unchanged for days, and a water jug provided by staff was not replaced in five days, she claimed.
She accused staff at the hospital of treating her ‘like a criminal’ and she felt she ‘was stuck in hell.’
‘I felt completely humiliated and helpless,’ she continued.
The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has apologised to Ms Rich and recognised her care was below standard.
Ms Rich broke her spine during a fundraising event she did with her daughter, Misty, 12, last summer.
The pair kayaked from Liverpool to London to raise money for the Little Haven Children’s Hospice in Essex, but Ms Rich tumbled to the ground when they opened a canal lock.
Ms Rich has since written a letter to the hospital detailing her poor treatment, which her partner said left him in ‘floods of tears’.
Mr Barnes said he was ‘sick, disgusted and shocked’ at his partner’s treatment, adding his partner lost much of her dignity during her time at the hospital.
He said: ‘When I got home, I was in floods of tears in the living room and thought my whole life was breaking down.’
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Basildon University Hospital, acknowledged Ms Rich’s care did not meet standards and has issued an apology.
Diane Sarkar, chief nursing and quality officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, told Metro: ‘Ms Rich’s care did not meet the standard we would expect and we have sincerely apologised for her experience.
‘After looking into the concerns raised we have reassured her that we’ve spoken to the ward involved to make sure learning and actions are taken from this and addressed.’
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