She’dtied
thedoors
shut,hit
Mumwitha
coffeemug
ULD
HAV
E
E
Meandmy
poorMum– she
neverrecovered43
‘Staff shocked’
patients, what with my
snoring,’ Mum joked.
We laughed.
Mum had always been a
terrible snorer. Dad complained
she sounded like a train, often
slept in the spare room.
That night, we all kissed
her goodnight.
‘One more night,
and you’ll be
home,’ I grinned.
She’d been so
homesick, missed
her trips to the
local shop in her
mobility scooter,
and Dad’s cooking.
The next
morning, around
9.30am – just as
I was leaving to
pick up Mum, Dad called.
‘Your mum’s been attacked!’
he cried, voice breaking.
‘What do you mean?’ I gasped.
‘You’d better get to the
hospital,’ Dad croaked.
Gemma and I rushed thereA
spokeswoman for Hull University Teaching Hospitals
NHS Trust said, ‘We would like to express our sincere
condolences to Mrs Bunting’s family. The attack on Mrs
Bunting was carried out in the early hours of the morning
by a fellow patient, who had given no prior indication of
violent tendencies or intentions.
‘The ward was staffed in line with recommended
national guidelines for the time of day, however it is
clearly not possible for staff to supervise all patients
individually, round the clock. Staff were shocked, but
immediately followed all the correct procedures, which
included alerting security, ensuring Mrs Bunting received
appropriate medical attention, isolating the other patient,
calling the police and recording the attack as an incident.’and found
Mum lying on her bed in a
daze, a big, bloodied cut on the
left side of her head, 16 jagged
stitches across it, her cheek
and forehead bruised.
‘Mum?’ I cried – but she
looked straight through me.
‘She’s been like this all
morning,’ said
Dad, tearfully.
She seemed
out of it, staring
into space.
A nurse led us
into a side room.
She said Mum
had been attacked
in the night by
a fellow patient.
‘How?’ I cried,
absolutely stunned.
She said a woman in the bed
beside her had become agitated
with Mum in the night.
‘The snoring,’ I frowned.
Around 3.40am, after tying
the ward doors shut with her
duvet, the woman had hit mumaround the head
with a coffee mug.
Another patient,
who was heavily
medicated, looked
on helplessly.
The night
matron arrived
just in time to see
Mum’s attacker
standing over her,
holding the cup.
I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing.
Horrifying.
How could poor,
defenceless Mum
come to harm in a
hospital, of all places?
She should have
been safe!
The doctors said a
CT scan didn’t show
any lasting damage.
Yet mum was a shell
of her former self.
Even when the
doctor let her come
home later that day,
she just slumped in
bed, didn’t eat,
constantly slept. In
pain from her injuries,
she barely spoke.
‘I’ve had enough,
son,’ she sobbed
a few days later.
Meanwhile, the
police investigated- but, to our utter
disbelief, no-one was charged.
They said they were waiting
for more information from the
nurses on the ward that night.
Then, 13 days after the attack,
on 4 April, Mum’s condition took
a turn for the worse and she
struggled to breath. The doctor
came, diagnosed renal failure
and gave her pain relief.
I called my brothers – Simon,
45, Barry, 44, and Wayne, 40.
‘You have to come, now,’ I said.
To say goodbye...
The youngest, Phillip, 39,
lived a two-hour drive away
but, as we all sat around
Mum’s bedside, he video-called
her. I held up the phone as he
told Mum he loved her.
Then she squeezed my
niece’s hand and slipped away.
‘She’s gone,’ I choked.
Afterwards, we were all in
bits. Mum had been the glue
that held our family together.
Poor Dad barely spoke for
days, unable to comprehend
how he’d go on without his
wife of 47 years.
Two weeks later, my
brothers and I carried Mum’s
casket into Chanterlands
Crematorium in Hull.
We played her favourite
song, I Will Always Love You by
Dolly Parton – and later, we
put lilac roses on Mum’s grave.
But it was so hard to grieve,
knowing that she was taken
before her time.
We all felt that if it hadn’t
been for the attack, Mum could
have gone on to live much longer.
The unforgivable, brutal
assault destroyed her spirit.
Afterwards, she just gave up.
Now, I’d like to see more
hospital staff on duty at night,
to protect patients.
No family should have to go
through what we have.