An elderly hospital patient whose intravenous drip fell out had to call home on his mobile phone to ask his wife to get the nurses to put it back in.
The Western Health Board is investigating the incident, in which the cancer patient at an isolation unit in University College Hospital, Galway, had been unable to get a response from the nurses' station despite ringing a "chapel bell" with which he had been provided.
The patient was admitted to the hospital early in November. When the electronic bell in his room did not work, nurses gave him a bell from the hospital chapel to alert them if he needed help.
When the intravenous drip came out, the man rang the chapel bell, but the ringing failed to alert the nurses.
He then used his mobile phone to call his wife in Tuam, who then contacted the nurses' station to tell them what had happened.
The family of the patient has written to the Minister for Health as well as to local TDs to voice their concerns.
Mr Paul Connaughton, Fine Gael TD for Galway East, said yesterday that it was incumbent on the Minister for Health to bring the health service in the west up from "Third World" standards.
He has tabled a Dáil motion to highlight the deficiencies in the hospital service.
Mr Connaughton said the man had attended UCHG on a number of occasions for chemotherapy. While he had been relieved that he did not have to travel to Dublin for this treatment, his family was distressed that he had to wait for several hours in casualty.
The family say that they had to "beg" for a single room on one occasion the man visited the hospital. They say he had to share a bathroom with 20 other people. "The cost of this room is €410 per day," the patient's daughter said. "We can endure chipped paint on the walls, but no means of contacting a nurse is ridiculous."
A WHB spokesperson said that a complaint had been made, which it was investigating.