It took eight officers, equipped with riot shields, to contain the woman and take her away.  Patients had been moved to safety and reception staff locked themselves into their area, keeping in contact with police until their colleagues arrived following the 999 call. 

Said Deputy Sister Sarah Dalgleish, who was in charge of eight nurses and two receptionists on the night: “We were very, very busy and I’m pleased to say no one was injured.  The patient had been seen, quite correctly, by nursing staff and a doctor, but she did not respond well to being told that she would have to wait until her alcohol level had dropped before she could be seen again, and she became very agitated.”

The woman threw everything out of a treatment room, emergency nurse practitioner’s room and the doctor’s room. Equipment trolleys had their contents scattered; iodine bottles were unscrewed and spilt; “sharps” boxes thrown about; heavy duty plaster-cast cutters were thrown resulting in a broken light fitment and patient’s treatment cards were chucked on the floor. A screen was pulled across the try to confine the debris to one area.

At the time there were:

·          3 patients in resuscitation

·          5 patients in “majors”

·          16 patients on observation trolleys

·          20 patients in “minors”

·          5 patients in the observation bay

The reception area was full but patients responded well when Sister Sarah and her team began moving them to safety.  She ordered one patient and their relative to lock themselves into the doctor’s consulting room; the waiting room was cleared with patients moved to the “minors” area behind protective closed fire doors.

Said Sarah: “The patients were very good. One elderly patient was petrified but everyone kept calm.  We had to ring the ambulance service and tell them we had an on-going incident and to temporarily redirect non-emergencies but of course, we would always receive “blue lights.” We closed the front doors and patients arriving by their own transport had to come in via our “blue light” entrance.

 
“When the police arrived they came in, assessed the situation, and went out to get their riot shields.  They were very good and later some of them stayed to help clear-up.”

Commenting on the events of Thursday night the Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospital’s Emergency Services Business Centre Manager, Jean Haire said: “This person was completely intoxicated, but she was not ill and was medically discharged as there was no reason to keep her in hospital.  She wasn’t noisy but she deliberately trashed an important part of our Accident & Emergency.

“The A & E team were fantastic and no patients were harmed during the incident. The team worked together very well with the police who kept in phone contact with us while their colleagues were on the way.  Staying behind to help clear-up was also appreciated.

“Local people have been very involved in the campaign to keep our Accident & Emergency.  We deal with people from all walks of life with all sorts of problems, but this type of incident in our A & E department is unacceptable to us all.  It is only by the good management of the staff that nobody was hurt.”