A man told by doctors to change his own bandages after ripping the skin off his arm in a fall has been left with a stomach-churning infection.
Alex Pollock went to A&E at Leicester Royal Infirmary after falling over while rushing to the shops and was patched up by staff.
The 62-year-old was told to book an appointment via the Single Point of Access (SPA) team to have his bandages changed.
However, when the time came the team told him it was actually his GP who needed to replace the dressings and re-bandage the large wound on his forearm, reports LeicestershireLive.
But his local doctor told him it was in fact SPA who were responsible and when Alex went back to them he claims they refused to book an appointment for him and told him to change the bandages himself.
Alex, from Leicester, said: "Nobody was giving me an appointment to get it seen to, I was passed from SPA to my GP and SPA again, and then I was told to do it myself.
"Three days later, my arm was infected, and my GP had to step in and sort out the appointment for me, as well as prescribing me antibiotics to treat the infection.
"I honestly don't know why they wouldn't sort out an appointment for me.
"Everyone was telling me they were the team supposed to sort out my bandages but they just told me to do it myself instead.
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"Bear in mind that the injury was on my forearm. I had to try and wrap it up one-handed and clearly didn't make a good enough job of it.
"A&E went well, they were absolutely great and very helpful. It was only after leaving and trying to book an appointment with SPA where the problems started."
The gory injury, which covered most of Alex's left forearm, has now mostly healed.
He said: "It was daft, really. I was trying to get to the shops to try and catch them before they closed, I was walking too quickly and I tripped.
"It's mostly healed now, but it still doesn't feel completely right. I'm keeping an eye on it to see if I need to book another appointment with a doctor."
The SPA team helps organise the right care for patients as it is needed, helping organising appointments to keep people out of hospital and provide urgent and non-urgent care in the community.
A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “We cannot discuss a patient’s details in a public forum. Our Community Nursing and Therapy Team provide a wound care service for housebound patients.
"We would advise any patient who is dissatisfied with any aspect of their care to contact our Patient Advisory Liaison Team PALS@leicspart.nhs.uk.”
