Man with broken neck 'sent home'

A patient with a broken neck had to drag himself home after being sent away from the Princess Royal Hospital as 'just another Friday night drunk', his wife claimed today.

The self-employed plasterer now faces an uncertain future and does not know how much mobility he will get back. Bob Davies, 60, from Boulton Grange, Randlay, broke his neck in a fall.

He will spend at least six weeks in Oswestry's Orthopaedic Hospital.

His distressed wife Hazel said: "I just think it's disgusting. They obviously didn't examine him properly or they would never have sent him home in that position – he couldn't move, and his legs and hands weren't working. They just classed him as another Friday night drunk."

A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said: "While we cannot comment on individual cases, patients who come to our A&E departments are assessed for the clinical symptoms they present with and the history of their injury."

Mr Davies was initially taken to the PRH on December 16 but sent home in a taxi despite repeatedly telling staff that he couldn't move his arms and legs.

The next day his wife called Shropdoc and Mr Davies went back into the PRH because the doctor was concerned he'd had a stroke.

Mrs Davies added: "Bob was X-rayed and had a CT scan and they discovered he had broken his neck."

Mrs Davies said Mr Davies had had a few pints but wasn't drunk.