The UL Hospitals Group has sincerely apologised for the distress caused to an older patient who became upset when attempts were made to move him from the hospital back to his nursing home in the early hours of the morning.
It is understood the man, aged in his 80s, who was moved to a hospital bed from the ED, was woken up in the early hours of the morning to be moved by ambulance back to his nursing home.
The ambulance needed to bring him back to his community care setting was not available until the early hours as it was busy with emergency work.
When it did become available the patient in question was woken up by night staff, he became upset and agitated, and security staff were called.
The UL Hospitals Group said it is not their practice to transfer patients in the early hours of the morning.
It is believed that while security staff were called, they had no further role in the incident, and the man was comforted and remained in hospital to be moved at a more appropriate hour.
In a statement the UL Hospitals Group said: "We cannot comment in detail on individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality.
"How soon a transfer between the hospital and community settings can be affected may depend on the availability of ambulance resources. Where a vehicle is responding to an emergency, patient transfers may be delayed.
"We regret that on this occasion such a delay resulted in an attempt to transfer the patient back to the community setting at an inappropriate hour.
"It is not our usual practice at UHL to transfer patients in the early hours of the morning and we would like to sincerely apologise to the patient in question for any distress caused."
