A hospital has apologised after asking elderly patients to use a tambourine instead of a buzzer to attract attention.

The tambourine was put in a day room at Cardiff Royal Infirmary after elderly patients feared it was too far for nurses to hear any cries for help.

“It is ridiculous. These people are pensioners not members of the Monkees or Mick Jagger,” said one resident – “Where is the dignity in asking old and frail people to bash on a tambourine if they are in trouble? It makes the NHS look like a laughing stock.”

He claimed that earlier there was a pair of maracas in the day room for patients to use – in case the tambourine was broken. Patients in the hospital’s West Wing complained they were “too scared” to use the day room in case staff do not hear their calls for help.

The hospital is well-known for its long corridors and has even been used to film episodes of TV’s Dr Who.

Steve Allen, chief officer of Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council, said: “This is totally inappropriate.

“Patients shouldn’ t have to resort to shaking a tambourine to get a nurse’s assistance.”

Ruth Walker, executive director of nursing for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, apologised for the tambourine – and said a new emergency bell will be installed

When Adele Edwards is hungry, she doesn’t bother with the kitchen. She just heads straight for the furniture. Her bizarre diet is killing her but she says she just can’t stop.

Incredibly, the mother-of five from Florida can’t stop eating household items, such as rubbers and elastic bands. But her favourite snack is the ­polyester filling from sofa cushions. To her, man-made foam is more delicious than biscuits or cakes.

Adele, 30, is suffering from recognised medical condition, Pica. Having munched her way through eight sofas and five chairs, she ­estimates that she’s digested nearly 16st of synthetic foam in her ­lifetime.

She simply can’t stop and now she’s terrified of eating ­herself into an early grave. In recent months, she’s had­ ­emergency treatment for intestinal obstruction after eating chunks of polyester foam which she refers to simply as “cushion”. Doctors have warned that she will leave her children motherless if she doesn’t give up, but she says she’s powerless to stop.

An American neuroscientist has developed a rare condition that leaves him paralysed when he feels the emotion of love. Matt Frerking, 39, from Portland, Oregon, is left immobile if he even has a romantic thought or sees others showing displays of affection.

The affliction has been diagnosed as a combination of the chronic sleeping disorder narcolepsy with cataplexy, a sudden weakening of the muscles which renders the person temporarily immobile but still aware of their surroundings and able to hear.

For Mr Frerking the feeling that sparks an attack is love and being around his family can send him into a state of physical paralysis.

I have to limit those things very carefully.” During an interview with ABC News, he described having to avoid “warm and fuzzy” feelings before passing out after looking at photos in his wedding album. Attacks are also triggered by trailers for romantic films and Mr Frerking said he tries to stave them off by thinking about scientific research. Carol Ash, a sleep specialist at the Sleep for Life Center in New Jersey, said: “In someone like Matt strong emotions are flipping a switch.”

Every day, Michelle Philpots wakes up next to a man who has to convince her they are married.

When she expresses doubt, he takes out a photo album and shows her pictures of their wedding 13 years ago.

Michelle and Ian on their wedding day in 1997. She lost her short-term memory in 1994 and every day since then he has to convince her they are married. Some days he has to get out the wedding pictures to prove they are husband and wife.

The 47-year-old’s condition was caused by brain injuries sustained in two road accidents. She can recall everything up to 1994 but since then everything that happens on one day is forgotten the next.

Her case echoes 50 First Dates, the 2004 movie in which Adam Sandler tries to woo Drew Barrymore, who has no day-to-day memory following a car crash.

And it is not just loved ones Mrs Philpots struggles with. She uses hundreds of Post-It notes and reminders on her mobile phone’s calendar to keep her informed of appointments and everyday duties.

Anything she has done or anyone she has met must be logged for future reference. And on the rare occasions she ventures out of her home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, she goes armed with sat-nav programmed with her address.

There are some benefits, however. There is no such thing as a repeat on TV and every joke is funny because it’s the first time she’s heard it.

‘It’s like I am living the same day, day after day,’ said Mrs Philpots, who does voluntary work at a charity for people with disabilities three days a week.

‘I love to watch EastEnders but I can’t remember the characters or any story lines.’ Her husband, a 46-year-old fencer, said the secret of the success of their marriage was patience.

‘It can be very frustrating for me but I have to be patient and understand. I have to keep calm because I love her,’ he said.

‘I’ve known her for 25 years so I am lucky we met before she had the accidents because she can remember me. Luckily we have lots of photos to remind her, otherwise she would forget it all.’

Mrs Philpots suffered brain injuries in a motorbike crash in 1985 and a car accident in 1990. The couple have no children.
Enlarge The aftermath of one of the car crashes which caused Mrs Philpots to lose her short term memory

Mrs Philpot’s case is similar to the storyline in the film 50 First Dates, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Her character, Lucy, suffers from short-term memory loss and forgets her love interest Henry, played by Sandler, every day

Dr Peter Nestor, a neuroscience specialist at Cambridge University, said Mrs Philpots was suffering from anterograde amnesia.

He added: ‘It is reasonably rare but it does exist. You are capable of carrying out day-to-day things and don’t forget how to do certain things like speaking.

‘But if someone was to ask you what you did yesterday, you wouldn’t have a clue.’

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A youngster dubbed turtle boy by cruel bullies is starting a new life after a miracle two hour operation to remove a giant shell of hard skin from his back.

Maimaiti Hali, eight – from Heping, northern China – was born with a hard, mutated growth covering most of his back.

Dad Maimaiti Musai said: “We were told surgery wasn’t possible when he was very young so we waited. But the growth got bigger and harder and became like a turtle shell.

“People bullied him and we were determined to end it. He is such a good and brave boy and he never complained. We are so glad that he is now on the mend.”

Medics at Urumqi Military General Hospital say they have cut away the growth and replaced it with skin grafts from Hali’s scalp and legs.

Chief surgeon Ye Xiangpo explained: “The skin we removed was as thick as a bull’s hide. We used scalp hair on the graft because it grows back very quickly. We expect him to make a full recovery.”

Hali added: “It was a bit painful, but I won’t worry about other kids laughing at me any more. I am looking forward to going out in the sun without my shirt on and to going swimming with my friends.”

Previously we talk about Tian Yunting, The Turtle Girl.

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