A pensioner was tucked into the wrong bed and left there for hours after an ambulance crew took her to the wrong house.
Elizabeth Mahoney, 89, had just recovered from Covid-19 after fighting the virus for 10 weeks in County Hospital in Pontypool, South Wales, and was due to return home on March 12.
Her concerned daughter-in-law contacted the hospital after waiting for her at her home for hours but she didn't show up.
Medical staff informed her son, Brian Mahoney that there "was a bit of a problem" as the elderly woman had been dropped off over eight miles from where she lived.
The 65-year-old was informed that his mum had been left at the house in Newport.
He told the South Wales Argus: "They apologised and told me they were on their way to pick her back up.
"I just went: 'What do you mean? Please don’t tell me you’ve left her there', at which point my sister burst into tears – we were all worried sick."
Official details of the mix-up are yet to be confirmed.
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However, Brian believes she may have been mixed up with another female patient with dementia who was also returning home that day.
He said that he "can't say" how the family at the other house didn't realise Elizabeth wasn't the relative they were waiting for and believes his mum was too "frightened and confused" to say she was in the wrong house.
Brian added: "We asked mum what she remembered. She said she knew she was not in her own house, and when she went in she had tried to tell the ambulance workers this was not her house.
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"They also kept calling her Margaret, and continued to take her into the home."
The family insisted Elizabeth be checked over at the hospital again before returning home as they were concerned for her health after she recently had a stroke.
The Welsh Ambulance Service has apologised to both families and told local media that they are working with the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to investigate the mix-up.
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