An investigation has been launched after two patients died from heart attacks while waiting to be seen in A&E. The patients were in a queue to be assessed at the Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) Accident & Emergency department.
The deaths occurred despite protocols in place for all arrivals to be triaged - a medical term for establishing the seriousness of a case – within 15 minutes. Health board officials are now looking into ‘pressures’ in patient care during the incidents at the QEUH, Scotland’s flagship £842million hospital which opened in 2015.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned that long waits for treatment have contributed to hundreds of avoidable deaths. Last week, Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, demanded an inquiry into the number of patients who have died due to the ongoing crisis.
