Former Bassetlaw midwife left in ‘agony’ for eight months with a broken arm

Maura Moss, 62, - who is in ‘constant agony’ - says she feels ‘completely let down’ by Bassetlaw Hospital.

The ‘fiercely independent’ mum-of-three - who is now unable to cook or even clean herself - has been left devastated after the hospital cancelled her operation three times.

Her family have told how the grandmother-of-four has not slept in a bed since December due to the risk of rolling onto the arm - instead she sleeps propped upright on her sofa.

Maura’s ‘livid’ daughter Arianna Nattriss told how on one occasion her mother’s surgery was called off because medics ordered the wrong equipment.

Teacher Arianna said her retired mum - who volunteers for charity the St Vincent de Paul Society - had suffered psychological trauma after being left unable to look after her grandchildren or even leave her home.

Arianna, 33, said: “My mum has been in absolute agony and we’ve never been able to get on top of the pain.

“Because she was a midwife she’s a bad patient and hasn’t made a lot of noise about the poor treatment she’s had.

“She’s made excuses for the hospital all along but she worked as a midwife for 32 years - we’re not asking for special treatment but they could at least look after their own a bit.”

Maura broke her left arm in three places above the elbow after a fall on December 9.

After a six-week wait to see if the fractures would heal naturally Maura was finally booked in for an operation in February.

However surgery was cancelled after the hospital ordered the wrong equipment.

After the second appointment to fix the arm at the end of March was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic Arianna told how ‘we went to July without a single person from the NHS making contact with mum’.

She said: “We had not one call from them to see if she was okay. Me and my sister had to go and do her personal hygiene at home for her - she was completely humiliated.”

After another fall at home in June on the same arm Maura was discharged from Bassetlaw’s fracture clinic as ‘there were no further breaks’.

Shocked Arianna told how a consultant at Doncaster Royal Infirmary told her two weeks later there were ‘40’ patients more urgent than her mother and she may have to wait until February 2021 for surgery.

Arianna said: “My mum broke into tears and just kept saying ‘I can’t cope’

“After that she started ringing them every day for updates until she finally got a date for Tuesday this week (August 18).”

However on Monday - the day before the scheduled operation - Maura was contacted by the hospital again to be told she had been removed from the list as two more urgent cases had come in.

Frantic Arianna said: “Yesterday we spent three to four hours on the phone to everyone at the hospital trust we could.

“I asked them all ‘would you accept this treatment for your mother?’ and not one of them could give me an answer.

“The consultant who took my mum off that list has never met her so I’d like to know how he made the decision that the other cases were more urgent.

“They’re now saying her case is not urgent because there’s no trauma - so are we now going to have to wait another nine months?”

Dr Tim Noble, medical director at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “On behalf of the Trust I want to apologise to Mrs Moss.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the entire NHS and - as has been the case across the country - many of our local services have had to fundamentally change during this time.

"This has meant some patients have had to wait longer to receive treatment than would normally be expected.

“Medical staff at the Trust have reviewed Mrs Moss’ treatment a number of times and have discussed plans during this period however we are sorry for the delays and are looking to offer a date for surgery as soon as possible.

"On behalf of the Trust I sincerely apologise for the impact this has had on Mrs Moss and her family.

“As we recover services from the impact of Covid-19 we are looking into our processes to see if any improvements can be made so that patients who are experiencing longer waits than usual are kept up-to-date with plans for their care and treatment.”

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