A patient who waited 26 hours to be treated in a Welsh A&E department has described her experience as "barbaric" and "like a warzone". Julianne Williams, who had been suffering with gynaecological issues including abdominal pain, sickness and a high temperature, said she was told to visit Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil when her symptoms failed to subside.
Although she was triaged within minutes, the 54-year-old claimed the scene changed from "calm to carnage" as soon as she opened the double doors of the A&E waiting room. She described scores of people, many of whom were on trolleys and in corridors, waiting to be seen in the heavily overcrowded unit.
Read more: Welsh NHS described as 'broken' as waiting times crisis deepens
She said she spent hours in the company of distressed patients with horrific injuries, including one cyclist with a very visible broken bone, and witnessed a woman appearing to miscarry on the floor. Julianne alleged she was also told that the emergency room only had five nurses on duty, 10 short of what was required, and watched one of them "crying her eyes out" at the end of their night shift.
After entering the emergency department at around midday on Tuesday, April 12, and being told she'd need to be admitted onto a ward for further examination, by around 2pm the following day Julianne gave up and left the hospital of her own accord. During that 26-hour period she said she attempted to sleep on three "hard" chairs which she had pushed together, and became dehydrated due to a lack of water being provided.
"I'm a Royal Air Force veteran. I spent over 25 years in the military. I've been to warzones, I've been to Baghdad, Iraq - but the treatment I received in that hospital was nothing short of barbaric," she said.
"I'd never been to A&E in my life. I'd never had the need to. In my head it was a bit like Holby City; all the doctors and nurses had nice scrubs on, everybody was identifiable and it was clean and tidy. But it was the complete opposite. You don't know who you're talking to, it's dirty and staff are running around like headless chickens."
Julianne, who is going through menopause and had experienced problems with a coil that had been fitted, said she was initially put into a private room when she entered A&E for a swab to be carried out. But she claimed it was never undertaken due to equipment going missing.
She said she was then "ushered out" out of the private room - as it needed to be used by someone else - and placed in the corridor, which was followed by a long spell in an office-type room with high-back chairs.
"I was with one lad who had come off his bike and a bone was protruding through his hand, there was a girl in the corner who was crying because she was having some sort of panic attack, and there was another lady - probably mid to late 70s - who had dementia and kept asking for someone to ring her mummy and daddy. It was just awful," she recalled.
"I was told there were meant to be 15 nurses on duty but there were only five. The nurse who was in charge was newly-qualified and after her night shift I saw her leave in tears. I saw her walking out crying her eyes out."
Julianne, from Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd, said she was also disgusted by the state of the unit and what she described as an alleged disregard for patient safety and cleanliness. She added: "One doctor was taking blood off me and was sitting next to a clinical bin, but rather than putting the tourniquet in the bin she threw it on the floor in front of me. There was only one toilet for men and women, so you can imagine the state of that."
Julianne, who was hooked up to a drip, said she felt like she was being a "burden" to staff at Prince Charles Hospital. "I had to ask them to unhook me [from the drip] so I could go to the toilet because the drip trolley didn't have any wheels. When I came back someone had taken it. They're clearly very, very short of equipment too," she added.
"I also felt like I needed to act as a carer for some of the other patients in there. There was one woman who I stopped from falling out of one of the ambulance beds. Her husband, bless him, had fallen asleep and if she'd fallen she could have done a lot of damage.
"My partner drove me to Prince Charles Hospital and he waited six or seven hours in the car. When I found out I was going to be admitted he went home to pack an overnight bag for me. He practically argued with the security guard to get through to the waiting room to see me."
Julianne said she initially tried to contact her local GP for help but discovered that the phone lines were down. She was then directed by staff at the women's unit at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant to head to Prince Charles.
She believes the main problem with A&E is the fact there are "too many chiefs and not enough Indians". She claimed that ambulances were "backed up" outside unable to offload their patients into the department.
"It felt really undignified. I felt dirty and humiliated. There was no privacy. They were asking me very personal questions when everybody could hear my business. One doctor asked if the pain was like I was in labour, and I told her four times that I'd never had children so I had nothing to compare it to," she added.
After making a complaint to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (Pals), former Abercynon native Julianne said she was contacted by one of the lead nurses to apologise for the situation. A follow-up appointment was then booked for her to see a gynaecological consultant in Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda in Llwynypia, Rhondda, on May 13.
"They said if I had any issues then not to hesitate to go back to A&E, which I just laughed at. They recommended I try Brecon next time as they turn around people more quickly. That's miles away," she added. "I still don't know why I was in pain. Nothing has changed but the sickness and high temperature has gone now."
According to latest Welsh Government figures, the number of people coming through the doors of Wales' A&E departments rose dramatically between February and March - up from 73,520 to 88,599. Many thousands of them are spending too long in these units.
In March more than a third (34.9%) of patients spent four hours or more in Welsh A&Es before being admitted, transferred, or discharged. Meanwhile a record 10,886 patients waited in excess of 12 hours - 57% more than March 2021 - but the target is for no-one to wait that long.
Prince Charles Hospital had the third worst-performing A&E in Wales in March, with 48.9% (2,482 patients) spending longer than four hours in A&E, and 17.4% (882 patients) spending longer than 12 hours. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) made an unannounced visit to the department in September last year and found that patient safety and dignity was being compromised. You can read more about that here.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said long waiting times in crowded emergency departments can lead to "associated harm and even death". Its vice president Dr Suresh Pillai said: "The health system is broken. Patients in the community face long waits for ambulances, patients in ambulances face long waits to be handed over to the emergency department, patients in emergency departments face long waits for a bed, and vulnerable and elderly patients medically fit to be discharged remain in hospital for longer than necessary because social care support is scarce.
"We know that in emergency medicine in Wales we have a shortage of at least 100 consultants, as well as widespread shortages of junior doctors, trainees and nurses trained in emergency medicine. Added to severe bed shortages and a crisis in social care, these are all contributing to the dire situation in urgent and emergency care. In order to tackle the crisis, we must see meaningful action to recruit more staff, open more beds, and address the issues in social care.
"Staff are burnt out and distressed, morale is low, and patients are becoming increasingly worried about the situation. We cannot continue in these circumstances. If another month passes with further deteriorating performance and new record lows, more and more patients will come to harm."
In response to Julianne's claims, a spokesperson for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said: "We would like to say sorry again to Ms Williams for her experience at our emergency department. Ms Williams has complained to us and we have been, and are, in touch with her to understand more about her concerns.
"The complaint is ongoing, and so at this stage it would not be fair of us to say much more until it is resolved. We have offered Ms Williams an appointment with one of our specialists so that we can offer care or treatment for the symptoms she has been suffering from.
"As with other health boards across Wales, all three of our emergency departments have been under pressure recently. Our dedicated staff are working so hard, prioritising the most seriously injured and ill patients.
"If your situation is not life threatening or an emergency, please try one of our other services instead. It will mean you avoid an extended wait at the emergency department. If you are unsure what to do, please use the online NHS 111 Wales symptom checker for advice at https://111.wales.nhs.uk/
"We would encourage you to head to our website for more on our other services which will be able to help you, like the minor injury unit, GPs and our community pharmacies: https://ctmuhb.nhs.wales/.../nhs-111-wales/help-us-help-you/
"However, please remember if you have:
• Severe breathing difficulties;
• Severe pain or bleeding;
• Chest pain or a suspected stroke;
• Serious trauma injuries;
Then please do ring 999 or visit one of our emergency departments straight away. In these circumstances do not hesitate."
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