A CANCER patient had to spend the night in a “cupboard” at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital.

The woman, who receives regular weekly intensive chemotherapy, had been rushed to the hospital’s medical assessment centre after falling ill at home.

When she arrived she needed to be isolated from other patients at the busy unit, described as overcrowded by family, and the only space that could be found was a small side room, described by family as cupboard, where she had to stay overnight in a plastic chair. The hospital has said she was cared for in a “small assessment room”.

Earlier this month the Senedd heard how another cancer patient had to spend the night on a chair at the Grange Hospital, in Cwmbran, and only taken to a bed after collapsing on the floor.

Both cases have been highlighted as examples of what is known as “corridor care” where pressures on hospitals, and a lack of capacity, means staff are forced to treat patients in any available space and the sick must wait for beds to become available.

“My daughter, who is in her 50s, and has breast cancer was in a cupboard at the Royal Gwent for a night as she had to be kept away from all the people who were sleeping on the floor and window sills as there were no beds for them,” said the patient’s mother.

The patient, who lives in Newport, was advised by cancer doctors to go to the hospital due to being unwell and due to results of previously taken blood tests.

Her mother, who lives in Cornwall, had been contacted by her daughter’s doctors, who’d been unable to reach her, and she asked a neighbour in Newport to check on her daughter on Tuesday, September 30. She was then taken, by the neighbour, to hospital as they’d been advised it would be quicker than calling for an ambulance.

The mother said her daughter’s neighbour described the scene at the unit to her and how a separate area had to be found due to concerns she was especially vulnerable due to a weakened immune system.

“They put her in a cupboard and she was sat on a plastic chair. Her father, my ex-husband, was able to come down and they both spent the night in a cupboard at the Royal Gwent on plastic chairs.

“Her immune system is compromised, due to having chemotherapy, and she was otherwise surrounded by all the people sleeping on the floor and being sick , it was like something from the Gaza Strip.”

The woman was unable to directly contact her daughter for several days and at first feared she would have to spend a second night in a chair, but later learned a bed was found for her on the second night.

She was found a bed, in a private room, and remained in the hospital until Monday, October 6 before she was able to return home.

Her mother, whose husband is a retired consultant cancer surgeon, said she had spoken out due to concerns at the strain placed on the NHS and staff and said: “The NHS is completely broken but it’s gotten to the stage it is just too ridiculous for words.”

A spokesman for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board apologised for the woman’s experience at the Royal Gwent.

The spokesman said: “We can confirm she was cared for in a small assessment room – not a cupboard – within the Medical Assessment Unit at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

“Although it is fully appreciated this was not ideal, it was decided that staying in the small room overnight would be the best possible option to protect her from the risk of infections which are currently circulating.

“As infections rise in the community, inevitably infectious patients will be admitted to our assessment units and actions need to be taken to protect our most vulnerable patients.

“We are pleased to report that staff were able to find a cubicle the following day and our thoughts and best wishes remain with her.”