Zoe Carlin, 23, was admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry on March 26. She was suffering from severe chest pain and chronic heart problems.
The Northern Irishwoman claims she spent more than a week in a changing room where she had to use a bell to call staff during what she described as a "dehumanizing" ordeal. Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT), which runs hospitals in the west of Northern Ireland, said it was facing "extreme pressures" in health services. The Trust said it could not comment on individual cases for confidentiality reasons but that it was looking into the matter of Carlin's hospitalization. No bathroom and no meal for Carlin on three occasions during her nine-day stay in the changing room of the hospital, she claims. She also claims that she was told there weren't enough beds in the hospital due to a lack of available room. When she was discharged, a member of medical staff advised her to “go back to her own GP” as she had a condition that was difficult to diagnose.