A woman suffering a suspected heart attack told last night how she had to wait for five hours in the back of an ambulance before she was seen by medics.
Roseanna Clarkin, 39, was rushed to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after collapsing at home with “an almighty pain across my back and chest” and being unable to breathe.
With a history of heart problems, Roseanna feared the worst. The ambulance was at her Dunbartonshire home within five minutes but she could not believe the chaos when she arrived at the hospital last Monday morning.
She said: “We couldn’t even get parked near A&E because there were another 16 ambulances waiting there with patients already.”
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.”
Roseanna added: “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.
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow & 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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