An elderly patient had to be rescued by emergency services after clambering up scaffolding at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd last night.
An urgent investigation has now been launched after 75-year-old John Mervyn Hughes went missing from the ward and managed to scale three flights of scaffolding.
Today, his son blasted the hospital and demanded to know how his “frail” father was able to get into such danger.
Firefighters and police were called to the hospital after staff discovered Mr Hughes sitting on the edge at around 7pm.
His son, Martin Austin of Colwyn Bay, said: “I got a phone call at about 7pm last night saying my father was missing so myself and my sister Karen went to the hospital and they could not find him.
“We then saw some nurses outside all looking up and our father was up three flights of scaffolding sitting on the edge.
“An orderly climbed up to be with him and the fire service and police had to be called to rescue him.”
Mr Austin told how the family were “distraught” when they discovered where their father was.
“We were absolutely devastated and distraught when we saw him up there, our father is quite forgetful and is 75-years-old so very fragile.
“I don’t know how he got up there – the windows don’t open wide enough to climb out of so he must have climbed up – he must have been confused.”
"This should never have been allowed to happen"
Mr Hughes was admitted to the hospital four weeks ago with liver problems and underwent a blood transfusion, but it still awaiting an official diagnosis.
Fortunately, he was not harmed during the incident and was “completely unfazed” by the ordeal.
Mr Austin said: “It took about two hours to get him down and the staff were all very lovely but at the end of the day this should never have been allowed to happen.
“He could have fallen or if he hadn’t have been seen it could have been much worse.”
North Wales Police and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they attended the scene.
A fire service spokeswoman said: “We were called at 7.15pm yesterday to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd to carry out a rescue from height.
“We used a line rescue kit to get one male to safety from scaffolding.”
Urgent investigation
A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said it was “a very concerning incident which clearly should not have been able to happen”.
He added: “An urgent investigation is taking place between the health board and the contractors to establish how a patient was able to get access into an area where building work is underway and to identify what additional measures are needed to make sure this cannot happen again.”
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