A woman claims she missed spending Christmas and New Year at home during a six-week stay in a mental health unit because doctors didn’t realise she had a UTI.
Her urinary tract infection (UTI) was so severe that doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her, and believed she had mental health difficulties which she needed support for.
Julie Sparrow, from Harlow, claims she then spent the next month and a half at the Linden Centre in Chelmsford, until a blood test confirmed that she did indeed have a UTI.
Julie, 51, who is registered disabled, said: “It has been awful, absolutely dreadful in there.
“They were shocked and so was I. I had no symptoms, I have never had a urine infection.”
She began to feel unwell at the end of November, and so, visited Princess Alexandra Hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) department. However, doctors could not find any physical problems they needed to address and sent her home.
Her GP then conducted a home visit after learning that she had gone to the hospital and found her collapsed on the ground.
Julie, who is a wheelchair user and has carers support her at home, said: “He found me collapsed on the floor at home.”
After returning to Princess Alexandra Hospital, Julie was eventually transferred to the Linden Centre in Broomfield on November 30, where she remained until Monday (January 8) after spending Christmas and New Year at the unit.
During her stay, another blood test was conducted and found that she had been suffering with a severe UTI, and once antibiotics were administered and she recovered, she was sent home.
She said: “I haven’t got any mental health problems.”
Infections of the kidneys, or the tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder, are also known as upper UTIs. Symptoms related to upper UTIs include confusion, agitation and restlessness, according to the NHS website.
She is also now worried that if she were to call the emergency services that her medical record will state that she has mental health problems, which she is adamant she does not have, and that the ambulance won’t come.
A spokesperson for Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said: “In respect of our patients’ confidentiality we are unable to comment on individual cases. However, we would encourage anyone who is not happy with any of our services to come and speak to us directly.”
Angela Killmartin, who is an expert on cystitis and wrote the first book about the condition in 1971, said: “Absolutely, any bodily infection that is not treated will go into the blood brain barrier and cause confusion, then it gets into the blood stream whatever the infection is.
“Patients become exceedingly confused.”
Angela, 76, from Brentwood, suffered with ‘honeymoon cystitis’ when she was aged 24.
After suffering with cystitis for seven years and having to have antibiotics every two weeks, Killmartin then went on to write several books on the subject.
She also said that patients need to assess the causes of the UTI to understand how to prevent further risk.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust has been approached for comment.
https://www.essexlive.news/news/woman-spent-month-chelmsford-mental-1037043
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