A retired nurse has spoken of her despair after her elderly mother had to wait more than 32 hours to be put onto a ward at a Lanarkshire hospital.
The concerned woman, from Motherwell, contacted Lanarkshire Live on Tuesday, January 3, from the A&E department of University Hospital Wishaw as her 87-year-old mum had been there from 11am the previous day.
After 32 and a half hours, the pensioner, who was brought into hospital with chest pains, was eventually put onto a ward. However, her daughter, who did not wish to be named, was left distraught at the crippling state of the NHS she witnessed.
“It’s a horrible thing to say but I was sitting there so relieved I had taken early retirement,” she said.
“The staff are trying their best and I wouldn’t know how to fix this problem. If it stays like this the NHS is on the road out.
“We were the sixth ambulance in the queue and by the time we got out of the ambulance there were 11 waiting.
“My mum was on a trolley for 24 hours before she got a bed within the A&E department, she still wasn’t in a ward.
“Wherever you looked there was staff trying to help people but I didn’t see anyone with a plan.”
Waiting times for patients attending A&E across Lanarkshire hit an all time low last month.
Only 39.5 per cent of locals were seen within the four-hour target.
The woman added: “Something needs to drastically change.
“The government have to take their share of the blame and I don’t think GPs are doing enough which means people automatically decide to go to A&E.
“The paramedics actually took mum’s blood in the ambulance to try and speed up the process but we were waiting for hours for a chest x-ray. I felt like I was being a pest constantly asking for updates.”
A&E figures across Lanarkshire have plummeted in recent months. In November, locals MSPs called for urgent action to address the problem, where then just over half of patients were seen within the target four hours.
Central Scotland Conservative list MSP Meghan Gallacher said: "I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear that an elderly woman had to wait almost a day and a half to get onto a ward after being admitted to hospital.
""This is just the latest harrowing example of how patients across Lanarkshire are suffering despite the best efforts of truly dedicated staff in our hospitals. I recently attended A&E and saw first-hand the pressure the health service is under.
"Staff are beyond breaking point and I cannot begin to imagine how frustrated and exhausted they must be. NHS Lanarkshire has been in and out of code black for over 350 days now and Humza Yousaf has completely failed to come up with any plan to ease pressure on services.
"Given the scale of this crisis, the SNP-Green government should have recalled Parliament early from its Christmas break to address it."
Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire director of acute services, said: “Unfortunately, we continue to see sustained pressure across our three acute hospitals with exceptionally high numbers of people attend our A&E departments, including many who attend for conditions that would be best treated elsewhere.
“We are asking people to please keep our A&E departments safe for those who need critical care.
“If you think you need to attend A&E but it’s not life-threatening, you should consider the alternatives. You can call NHS 24 on 111 day or night, where you will be directed to the right NHS service.
“If you just need health care advice, then please use the NHS Inform website.”
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