A woman was left waiting in an ambulance outside a Glasgow hospital for five hours after she collapsed with a suspected heart attack.
Roseanna Clarkin, 39, has a history of heart problems and so feared the worst as she waited outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital last Monday morning.
The ambulance arrived to her Dunbartonshire home within five minutes after she collapsed at home with “an almighty pain across my back and chest” and being unable to breathe. But after getting into the hospital grounds so quickly, she was shocked at the chaos outside she told the Daily Record.
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She said: “We couldn’t even get parked near A&E because there were another 16 ambulances waiting there with patients already.
“When we got to hospital, we were told there would be a three or four-hour wait.
“The paramedics gave me an aspirin and paracetamol but there was nothing else they could do.
“I was concerned because I’d read about two patients dying from heart attacks while waiting to be seen in A&E.
“I wasn’t just concerned for myself but for everyone in the ambulances waiting outside and for those waiting at home who may die prematurely as they couldn’t get an ambulance because they were stuck at hospital with us.
“The crew told me they are sometimes stuck outside hospitals for eight hours.
“It felt as if the ambulance drivers were just being used to babysit us. I knew that if I was to have a heart attack in the back of the ambulance it was not a great situation. How can the health service in Scotland have got into this state?
“If it is as bad as this in October, how will the NHS function when winter arrives?”
Roseanna believes there could have been a far quicker turnaround if bloods were taken from patients sitting in ambulances.
She said: “When I got inside I had blood tests then got sent for an X-ray. I had the results within an hour which showed I hadn’t had a heart attack and was discharged.
“But if they had taken bloods when I was sitting waiting in the ambulance it could have freed the crew up four hours earlier.
“People are dying because ambulances are not getting to them quickly enough.”
A couple of days later Roseanna discovered the real cause of her pain was covid and she is still recovering at home.
Last night Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, said: "The NHS in Scotland is on its knees and we aren't even in winter yet.
“Humza Yousaf has been told what he needs to do, yet he simply fails to hear and act. It’s about time decisive action is taken or lives will be lost.”
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We are saddened to hear that Ms Clarkin was unhappy with her experience and would like to apologise for any distress this caused.”
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