At least two reviews have been launched after the “wrong patient” was transported from hospital and delivered to a Surrey, B.C., home by a Fraser Health contractor in the days before Christmas.
Sunny Hundal was at Surrey Memorial Hospital on Dec. 22 awaiting patient transfer services for his elderly father, who had been discharged that morning.
Hundal said his father had experienced breathing problems Sunday evening and they called an ambulance to take him to hospital.
While he was still in the hospital hallway with his bedridden father around 6:30 p.m. Monday, Hundal said he received a call from his wife, who told him the hospital transfer ambulance had arrived at their home with a patient she initially believed was her father-in-law.
“They have somebody they are about to drop,” Hundal recalled.
Rannu Hundal told Global News via email that she had called her husband to ask why he was not at home to help get his father back into the house.
When she learned the two were still waiting at the hospital, she said she ran outside and discovered the patient unloaded onto the transport chair was not her father-in-law.
The patient, dressed in only a hospital gown and blanket on what the Hundals said was a cold and windy night, was unknown to them and appeared anxious and confused.
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“The man seems to have suffered a stroke and is very excited and just only making noises and gesturing wildly and not able to talk at all,” Rannu said in her email.
“That is quite shocking,” Sunny told Global News. “Imagine being an elderly person and you are in a hospital gown and you are outside at somebody, you have no idea who the house belongs to, and you are asked that this is your house.
“At one point, she said that he himself was pointing to his bracelet that, ‘Check my bracelet.’”
Rannu said she asked the attendants to check the man’s hospital bracelet and discovered he had the same last name as her father-in-law.
Hospital Transfers, which is contracted by Fraser Health to provide non-emergency patient transfer services, including patient discharges into the community, confirmed that two patients with the same surname and first-name initial had transport requests from the same hospital unit on Dec. 22.
“At pickup, our crew confirmed that the patient’s surname and first-name initial matched the transfer documentation; however, the patient’s full first name and Personal Health Number (PHN) were not verified prior to departure,” Hospital Transfers CEO Colin Davis said in an email.
The company said the error was identified immediately upon arrival when the household “advised the patient was not the intended patient for that address.”
Davis said the crew contacted dispatch and the patient was transported to their intended destination.
“I think Fraser Health, whoever is in charge of the logistics, they need to do a better job, especially when it comes to our seniors,” Sunny said.
Hospital Transfers said a formal incident review is ongoing, and immediate steps have been taken to reinforce mandatory full patient identification verification before departure on every transfer, along with refresher training and supervisory review.
“We are also conducting a comprehensive procedural review to strengthen safeguards around patient identification and transfer verification, and we will work with Fraser Health to ensure these are implemented,” Davis confirmed by email.
Sunny said he doesn’t know if the family of the patient who ended up outside their home is aware of the “drama he’s been through,” but hopes the man’s loved ones have been informed of the incident.
“These are the questions I would love to know the answers from Fraser Health,” he said.
No one from Fraser Health was available for an interview. The public health authority sent Global News a statement saying it will not provide information related to the patient’s care.
“We can share that all appropriate steps in the hospital discharge process were followed in this case,” Fraser Health said in an email. “We understand both patients were returned safely to their homes and wish them well.”
Sunny said his father, who eventually received a hospital transfer home at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 23, is doing OK.
He also said he doesn’t blame hospital staff or the hospital transfer attendants, noting Dec. 22 was a busy, rainy and windy day during the holiday rush, and traffic was bad.
“The nurses were exceptionally helpful, but this mix-up is very, very stressful,” he told Global News. “I feel really bad about the person who had to go through this. I hope he is OK.”
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