Patient outraged after being kept in hospital 'store cupboard' for three days

A patient suspected of having a serious breast condition was forced to stay in a makeshift hospital storage 'cupboard' for three days.

Lucy Mackay was taken via ambulance to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock having suffered pain and numbness in her back, legs, shoulder and breast.

After waiting ten hours in A&E, she was taken to an assessment unit for blood tests and was placed on constant observation, the Daily Record reported .

After several days in the hospital, the 24-year-old was told another patient needed her bed because they required oxygen.

Lucy was moved into a side room which was also being used to store medical supplies.

Lucy Mackay said she was put in a storage room while waiting for treatment at hospital (Daily Record WS)

She said: “I thought it was a proper room but it was a treatment room they were using for storage.

“The staff wouldn’t let me close the door because they needed in for equipment.

"I would hear them outside the room laughing about what was happening to ‘the girl in the cupboard’.

“It must be hard for nurses when they are busy but when they are at the point of not caring about people, there is no point in them being at their work.”

Lucy was told by nurses that she faces a wait of up to 31 weeks for a breast scan.

She has already been diagnosed with cellulitis in the breast and a potentially serious bacterial skin infection.

Lucy also learned she had a urine infection and a  paracentral  disc herniation – a tear in a disc in her spine.

Lucy was diagnosed with cellulitis in the breast and a potentially serious bacterial skin infection. (DAILY RECORD)

“I spent a lot of time in tears because anything I asked for, I didn’t get for hours," she said of her experience at Crosshouse.

Joanne Edwards, director of Acute Services at the hospital, said: “We would like to apologise to this patient that the area in which they were cared for was not as comfortable as we would wish.

“There are times we experience a high demand for our service.

"We have contingency measures in place to cope with the surge in demand and this has included, for a small number of patients, the use of other clinical areas within the hospital.

“We’re reviewing these measures, as we recognise these areas have not been a suitable environment for patients.”