A DAUGHTER has criticised the care of her 98-year-old mother after she was discharged from Bradford Royal Infirmary and taken to a nursing home in Lancaster rather than the one where she lives in Wilsden.

Veronica Balmforth says her mum Vera Taylor was taken on a more than four-hour journey by taxi to the coast and back in Tuesday’s hot weather instead of a 20-minute trip to the proper address.

The confusion may have arisen because the Lancaster care home had the same name - Laurel Bank - as the Wilsden one.

She is demanding answers for whether the taxi driver was not given the correct address and did not flag up the fact that he was going 58 miles instead of somewhere local in Bradford.

She said: “I don’t know what’s gone on. You can’t make it up what happened.

“I’m just thankful that he didn’t find a Laurel Bank in Glasgow or London.”

She said she had told the Wilsden home to make sure her mother was given plenty of fluids because of her ordeal but was unsure how serious an effect it would have on her health but it would probably set her back.

A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust apologised for what happened but said the taxi driver was given the correct postcode.

Mrs Taylor, who is originally from Great Horton, was taken to BRI early on Tuesday following a fall the previous evening and she was found to be bleeding from her head in the early hours during a night check.

Mrs Balmforth said the home made contact with her to inform her of what was happening after the fall and when she had been taken to hospital.

At about 1pm on Tuesday, she made contact with the home to be told that her mother was being discharged, after having an MRI scan and fall assessment, and was awaiting transport back to the home.

“At 1840 hrs I was told she had arrived back at the home, having been taken to Laurel Bank Nursing Home in Lancaster by taxi and then brought back to Wilsden.

“I find this appalling, at 98 yrs of age with undiagnosed dementia, with probably no idea what was happening, on what probably has been the hottest day of the year with no access to fluids or toilets, that my mother has been subjected to over four hours plus of being driven around Lancashire.

“I should add she has, also, for a number of years suffered from COPD with no access to her inhalers. Why on earth can’t the driver be given an address label or just even a postcode?

“Why did she arrive back at Laurel Bank (eventually) with no discharge notes at all? Why would someone think that a BRI patient would be discharged to Lancaster?”

She could only think that the taxi driver was not regularly employed and did not know to go the Wilsden home but queried why he thought he would have to go beyond the BD postcode for what she estimated would have been a£100 fare.

She said she hoped her mum was asleep for the trip but said she would be completely out of it the next day and hopefully would not remember the ordeal.

After going to the hospital, Mrs Taylor is now in two-week isolation so her daughter will not be able to visit her.

Chief Nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Karen Dawber, said: “We would like to sincerely apologise for the distress caused to the patient and her family by this incident.

“The approved patient transport provider used in this instance was given the correct postcode for the patient’s place of residence and they have apologised for making an error.

“We have liaised with the company to urgently investigate the circumstances surrounding this journey and have contacted the patient’s family to explain what happened.”

Mrs Taylor lived in Great Horton for the vast majority of her life, leaving there in February 2020 when she became too confused and frail. She attended Princeville Modern School in the 1930s and served with the ATS during the Second World War.