Man (84) left unattended?

Seriously ill man waited six hours for transport

The patient had to remain in a wheelchair for a long time without care at Horn Hospital, his daughter explains. The medical director denies this.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/beeboys - stock.adobe.com, Attila Molnar)

The long wait for transfers between hospitals continues to anger patients and their relatives. Now, a seriously ill 84-year-old man from Lower Austria is said to have received no care during his more than eight-hour "examination trip" to the hospital. The hospital operator LGA denies this.

The Johanniter ambulance service is still not functioning as it should. This is illustrated by the case of Josef G. from the Krems district, who was admitted to the Allentsteig rehabilitation clinic after undergoing serious cervical spine surgery. 

"The surgery at Krems Hospital: great! The rehab in Allentsteig: fantastic! But when you're carted off somewhere else for an examination, you're obviously worthless," says his daughter Susanne, strongly criticizing how her father was treated: the 84-year-old had to wait for hours to be taken home.

Eight-hour wait for a follow-up X-ray
Due to breathing problems and high blood pressure, he was taken to the nearby Horn Hospital at 2 p.m. By 4 p.m., examinations and follow-up X-rays had been completed and the Johanniter ambulance service was called. According to his daughter, they did not arrive until 10 p.m. (!) to take her father back to Allentsteig.

The State Health Agency (LGA), which also issued the tender for hospital transport, speaks of a waiting time of "around five hours," which it deeply regrets. Notruf NÖ, which manages these so-called secondary transports in the state, also regrets the case. However, "the return transport took place at the earliest possible time, taking into account the available capacities," according to Notruf NÖ. The Johanniter emphasize that they will make further improvements quickly and in close consultation with the LGA and Notruf NÖ.

Waldviertel base in planning
Since the controversy surrounding secondary transports, a few changes have already been made: For example, five instead of three emergency vehicles are now available for the Waldviertel region. In addition, every day at 5 a.m., an emergency vehicle leaves the Spillern base near Stockerau for a hospital in the Waldviertel region to carry out patient transfers from there. Since the improvements were made, the alarming reports from the regions of Lower Austria have decreased, but they have not yet stopped altogether. What is new is that the Johanniter are now also planning a base in the Waldviertel region.

My dad had to wait for hours in his wheelchair for transport without water, food, or medication. No one feels responsible!

Susanne G., Tochter des 84-Jährigen

No water, food, or medication in the hospital?
Josef G.'s family was very concerned because of the long wait. His daughter makes serious accusations: her father was left unattended and alone. A "fellow patient who was sitting and waiting" then helped her father make a phone call. He couldn't do it himself because, after the very complex cervical vertebra surgery, he couldn't reach for or hold his cell phone with either of his arms at that time, says Susanne G. "I had already asked the nurse in charge at the hospital on the phone to go to him and help him call me. But she was busy preparing for the shift change and wasn't really motivated," the daughter complains. In the meantime, her sister had also called the emergency services twice, which was obviously just as unsuccessful.

During the phone call, Susanne herself heard her father begging the nurses for water, but they did not respond. "He shouted: 'Hello, help, I need water! But during the phone call, no one stopped and took the water problem seriously—I heard it! He kept shouting," Susanne G. describes. The nurse from Allentsteig also called the same nurse in Horn twice because he needed medication and food between 5 and 6 p.m. "My dad is 84 and not yet feeble-minded or senile," says his daughter, still very upset about her father's hours of anxiety in the hospital. 

"It's the system"
It is very important to Susanne G. to emphasize that she does not blame the nurses for this incident. "Many of them are simply already working at their limit here. It's the system. The employees simply can't do any more. And when it came to making savings, they always started at the bottom," she says. It is the management and the organization that cause such cases, which we hear about time and again.

State health agency denies allegations
The LGA strongly rejects the allegations. Reinhold Klug, medical director of the Horn-Allentsteig hospital network, counters: "The patient was constantly cared for throughout his stay, received sufficient fluids, and the medical care was comprehensive." In addition, G. did not sit in a wheelchair in the hallway for hours, but was lying on a patient bed.

Throughout his stay at the Horn Regional Hospital, he was in the short-term treatment area of the interdisciplinary admission area (IAB) and was, of course, given something to drink on a regular basis. "The patient was alert, able to drink independently, and had his cell phone with him," the LGA responds.

"The well-being of patients is our top priority"
The State Health Agency also states that the well-being of patients is the top priority: "Our staff attaches great importance to taking individual needs into account with a great deal of empathy and ensuring the best possible care." Of course, "being human" is always the focus here.