AN 82-YEAR-OLD woman with a broken leg discharged herself from hospital after being left to stand unaided and falling to the floor.

Christine Campbell Salisbury was at Alderney Hospital in Poole recovering from a fall when she says she was left to stand alone at the sink.

“When I collapsed I was lucky I did not break my leg again,” she said.

“I could’ve killed myself falling on that hard floor. I hit my head on the floor and banged my elbow and my hip was sore afterwards. So I said ‘I’m going to discharge myself’.

“I was not going to stay in there another day.”

Mrs Campbell Salisbury was checked over by doctors and advised not to discharge herself but as she wanted to leave transport was arranged for her to get home.

She said she was unhappy with her care at Alderney and told the Echo she was left on a hoist for 15 minutes after being helped from the toilet.

Mrs Campbell Salisbury’s fiancé Henry Wallis said the hospital should have paid more consideration to a letter he passed on from a doctor about her health and condition.

They were both perfectly happy with her treatment at Poole hospital after her fall but believe Alderney Hospital does not have enough staff to cope and she was unhappy being among dementia sufferers.

Before leaving she and Mr Wallis were given safety advice about caring at home and avoiding further accidents.

Helen Hunt, matron at Alderney Hospital, said: “We are committed to ensuring patients have a positive experience at Alderney Hospital and therefore take patient concerns seriously.

“We will be looking into this further in order to address the issues raised directly with the patient.”