A West Lothian pensioner was forced to lie on a hospital trolley for 21 hours after suffering a stroke as there were no available beds.
Frank Mooney was taken to St John's Hospital in Livingston after his GP detected warning signs in a chance phone call. Frank and his wife were told to drive straight to the hospital instead of waiting on an ambulance.
As Frank's doctor had alerted the hospital before his arrival, the 65-year-old was immediately taken for tests, but then spent just shy of a day lined up in the corridor of a busy ward with other patients as there was nowhere for him to be allocated.
READ MORE: Edinburgh man appears in court after being accused of capital double murder
The Record reports how Frank complained of a sore head all day on October 21 that he thought was a migraine. He said: "I was undergoing tests for cancer at the time and my GP was really good at keeping in touch. It was about 5pm and he really should have been away home but he gave me a ring.
"I tried to answer him but I had lost the power of speech. The doctor asked my wife if I had been drinking but she told him I hadn't. The doctor said he thought I was having a stroke.
"He told my wife to take me straight to St John's and not wait on an ambulance. She had to stop the car on the way for me to be violently sick and stopped another twice because I felt sick.
"It was really difficult even trying to communicate I needed her to stop without speech, I was triaged straight away and sent for tests.
"It turns out I'd had a TIA, a mini stroke. One of my arteries from my neck to the brain had clotted but the doctors said it had freed itself. After I knew what was going on I began to feel a bit better but part of my brain wasn't getting any blood."
Frank thought he was going to be in hospital for a while but the initial problem was finding him a bed. After 21 hours in a corridor, he was eventually moved into a cubicle.
He added: "I tried to get some sleep but it wasn't easy on a trolley and when I awoke in the morning the corridor was full of trollies with people on them.
"The young doctor came in and spent quite a bit of time with me but I told her I would rather go home if I was ill than lie on a trolley. The staff were run off their feet. I have no argument with them whatsoever. It wasn't their fault there were no beds.
"Staff were saying it was worse than during the Covid lockdown. It is certainly the worst I have ever seen."
The retired bricklayer said that he had read of the NHS crisis in the papers, but this really put it into context for him. Frank eventually received positive news that his cancer tests came back negative after waiting three months for the results of a bowel cancer test.
And he stated: "In my humble opinion it was the stress of waiting so long for my test results which caused the stroke. I believed I had bowel cancer and the worry of it was awful, not knowing the results caused me real anxiety."
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf admitted: "Excessively long waits are never acceptable and I am sorry Mr Mooney's experience fell short of what everyone should expect.
"A&E departments continue to experience significant pressure and, in common with healthcare systems in the UK and globally, the pandemic is still impacting services."
But he said: "We are supporting services through our £600 million winter plan which will see us recruit 1,000 new NHS staff, including up to 750 frontline nurses from overseas. Our £50 million Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits."
Jacquie Campbell, Chief Officer, Acute Services, NHS Lothian said: "We apologise to our patients who have experienced long waiting times.
"Our services are experiencing unprecedented and prolonged levels of demand which is causing real challenges for both acute and community care. This particular weekend was extremely busy.
"Our teams are working tirelessly to ensure that we can continue to prioritise the most clinically urgent patients by managing our resources and staff to improve flexibility and support patient flow."
READ NEXT-
Ukrainian teenage refugee taken in by Edinburgh couple stars in tennis competitions
Edinburgh mum driving to 'forgotten' Ukrainian villages to help mothers in need
One of Edinburgh's top chefs escapes driving ban after speeding twice in a fortnight
Ryanair passengers issued travel warning to anyone with flights booked in November
The incredible moment two Edinburgh bus drivers jump to the aid of woman in distress
