Nottingham woman arrested for refusing to leave mother with dementia in hospital

ITV News Central Reporter Rajiv Popat hears from a daughter who was dragged away from her elderly mother while visiting her in a hospital in Nottingham

A woman from Nottingham was arrested after refusing to leave her mother's side in hospital while coronavirus restrictions were in place.

Dawn McClean says she was dragged away from her elderly mother, who has severe dementia, at Queen's Medical Centre and spent the night in a police cell.

She says she has grown increasingly angry at allegations of Downing Street parties.

Several Conservative MPs are now urging Boris Johnson to resign following an apology he gave in Parliament for attending a party for 25 minutes when the country was in lockdown. He said he thought the gathering was a work event.

Dawn called an ambulance for her mother, Pauline Reast, last September when she became unresponsive at their home in Park Rise, Nottingham.

At the hospital she was told she couldn't wait by her mother's side due to Covid restrictions and was asked to wait while Pauline was taken away to be seen by hospital staff.

Dawn said she went after her mother and refused to leave her side after hearing her shouting out.

“I thought if they start to ask her about medication or anything she wouldn’t know any of that.”

She says security were called to escort her away when she refused to leave.

She said: “They handcuffed me and literally dragged me through the Emergency Department. He wouldn’t have dragged a dog the way he was dragging me."

In a statement, Nottinghamshire Police said they asked a woman to leave the hospital after staff had repeatedly asked her to depart.

After several refusals, the force said she was arrested as "an absolute last resort".

A police spokesperson added that "with thousands of people dying every day at the height of the pandemic, our primary goal was to help limit the spread of the virus and save lives".

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said it was sorry it wasn't able to find a solution to the situation.

A spokesperson said: "We worked hard to find a solution and we are sorry that we were not able to. We have listened to Ms McLean to try to address the concerns.

"We recognise the impact that restricted visiting has but we need to do all that we can to keep people safe in the pandemic."