Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, has seen a successful outcome from an extremely serious case.
Richard was contacted by the family of Deborah and Peter Austin, who had travelled to Greece upon the lifting of restrictions. Whilst they were on holiday, Deborah became severely ill and was taken to a local hospital, where it was confirmed she had suffered an aneurysm. Her son travelled to Greece to be with his parents and support them. Peter and his son received very little information from the hospital at which Deborah was staying and, although the doctors originally said that Deborah would receive emergency surgery, the procedure was cancelled and another operation was scheduled, with the advice that Deborah then return home to be placed in an intensive care unit.
The insurance company stated it would not be possible to fly Deborah home and did not receive the required information from the hospital. Deborah’s family became increasingly concerned that they were not being given any information about the case and that Deborah was not receiving the urgent medical treatment she needed.
Richard’s office contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to ask that Deborah’s situation be immediately looked into. They also wrote to the local NHS Trusts to get urgent medical advice about the potential options for Deborah and the treatment she needed, and to confirm that there would be a bed available for Deborah upon her return.
Following this, the hospital in Greece started giving Deborah’s family conflicting information about the medication Deborah was on, the treatment she was receiving and what treatment they advised. Richard’s office then held an urgent phone call with the FCDO to try and ascertain what support could be offered to Deborah and to get clarity on her situation, as well as arranging consular assistance for Deborah and her family.
Deborah then had an operation and the insurance company, working with both Greek and UK hospitals as well as Richard’s office, was able to state she was fine to fly back to the UK, meaning she was repatriated and able to immediately be transferred to a hospital in Newcastle.
Upon her return, it became clear that Deborah had been neglected in the Greek hospital and was suffering bed sores, effects of heavy sedation and lack of motor responses – her family were informed that it was unclear what kind of recovery she would made and told her situation was critical. Her family were then informed that she was at end of life stage, but thankfully Deborah started to make real progress back in the UK and soon regained movement. They were given the good news that Deborah may be able to return home for Christmas if her progress continued.
Commenting, Richard said:
“This was one of the most difficult and concerning cases I have had since becoming an MP. Having a constituent who is stuck abroad with a serious medical issue and not knowing what was going on was incredibly stressful and I cannot begin to imagine the pain and angst her family went through.
“I am so pleased – beyond pleased – that Deborah has made a recovery and will hopefully be well enough to return home for Christmas. Myself and my team all worked really hard on this case and were in regular contact with Peter, Deborah’s husband, and Deborah’s daughter-in-law. We were shocked when we were told she was at the end of life stage but completely overwhelmed with relief when we were told she was making a brilliant recovery.
“I want to thank my team for their hard work on this case and I want to send my very best to Peter, Deborah and the rest of their family. I wish Deborah a continued successful recovery and hope that she is able to enjoy her time being back at home.”
Commenting, Peter stated:
“Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting Richard, I would like the opportunity sometime in the future to thank him personally for the assistance both he and his team demonstrated throughout this nightmare situation. It was reassuring to know that we as a family were not alone and not forgotten.”
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