Terminally ill grandad waits 15 hours at Scots A&E until health board boss intervenes
A terminally ill granddad was kept waiting for 15 hours through the night at a Scots A&E until a health board boss intervened.
Peter Black, 71, who suffers from stage 4 cancer, is one of the latest victims of the country's hospital waiting times crisis after being taken to Wishaw General with alarming symptoms by worried relatives at 6.30pm on Saturday.
The grandad-of-five, from Motherwell, wasn't seen until 9.30am the next day.
Peter's daughter Nicola, who stayed with her dad during his mammoth wait for care, said the former joiner was only seen after a family member emailed the health board's chief executive to complain.
The NHS apologised to the family last night, while the case has been branded 'utterly heartbreaking' by opposition MSPs, who said it should be a 'wake up call' for Scotland's health secretary Neil Gray.
Nicola, 47, said: 'My dad had been vomiting and there was blood in his urine.
'We told them exactly what was happening and we sat there from 6.30pm on Saturday evening.
'We watched people come and go who couldn't string a sentence together. We saw people threatening people next to them and as time was going on and we saw people come in and out before us.
'By 3am dad said 'I'm going to go home, I've had enough'. But we'd sat there long enough by then, so I said we needed to stay.
'We eventually got through because a family member had managed to get an email to the chief exec of the hospital.
'From the time of that email being sent at 9.20am we were taken and seen and out by 10.05am.
'If that email hadn't been sent who knows how much longer we'd have been sat there.'
In February, the Scottish Government was urged to take immediate action to address 'unacceptable' and 'dangerous' A&E waiting times by an industry body.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the number of patients waiting for more than 12 hours in A&E was 99 times higher than what it was 14 years ago.
The Scottish government said it was determined to improvement the stats and met with the RCEM to discuss concerns.
Peter was diagnosed with kidney cancer in October last year which has spread to his lung. He has been undergoing treatment for the cancer but it is not curable.
The dad-of-three started vomiting on Friday and when it continued into Saturday Nicola attempted to get her dad medication through NHS24 under the guidance of the Beatson cancer centre and a house call from a doctor.
But when Nicola struggled to get the prescriptions and her dad began to experience blood and clots in his urine the family were advised to get him checked out to rule out a potential infection.
Nicola said A&E staff were made aware of her dad's background as they waited to be seen.
She said: 'My dad had a potential infection and we'd been told an infection in a cancer patient needs dealt with ASAP. All we really needed was this one prescription.
'I went up and asked a few times and said to the desk 'I know it's not your fault but I've seen people come and go with what would appear to be self-inflicted reasons why they're here. My dad is not choosing to be here. He just needs something to help him in the meantime as he has cancer'.
'I was told what he was there for wasn't life-threatening.
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'I said 'I'm not a medical professional but I don't think the people who have come in here escorted by police on drink or drugs are life-threatening either'.'
While the family were waiting the hospital was put on divert and closed to GP referrals and minor injuries.
Nicola said: 'There were five ambulances sitting outside with people in them who couldn't come in.
'In the morning they came around with a breakfast trolley because we'd been there so long.
'But the reception staff and one girl in particular were amazing at trying to keep everyone comfortable, bringing us blankets pillows and making tea and coffee.'
In the morning the family alerted a relative to what was happening and they managed to reach NHS Lanarkshire's chief executive Louise Long via email.
The chief exec responded to the family saying all emergency departments had been experiencing high volumes of patients and she had requested an update to ensure Peter was 'prioritised'.
Nicola said: 'We were eventually called just after the email was sent. By the time we left we were there for 15 and a half hours.'
Peter is now recovering at home but his family have been left outraged over the incident, as have opposition MSPs.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care for the Scottish Conservatives, has offered to meet with the family.
He said: 'This case is utterly heartbreaking.
'No patient should be left waiting 15 hours for urgent care, but it is even more disgraceful when this individual is terminally ill.
'The SNP government have allowed Scotland's NHS to fall into a state of permanent crisis and patients like Mr Black are paying a devastating price.
'Dedicated frontline staff are doing their best but have been failed by dire workforce planning from successive SNP health secretaries and a complete lack of leadership.
'This appalling case which occurred in Neil Gray's backyard should be the wake-up call for him to finally deliver the care patients expect and to get a grip of this crisis in A&E departments.'
Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP also condemned Peter's treatment and said Anas Sarwar would declare a 'national waiting times emergency' if made First Minister.
She said: 'Lives are being put at risk by the SNP's disastrous handling of our health service.
'Nowhere is the SNP's failure clearer than in the state of Scotland's NHS.
'Scottish Labour will deliver a true NHS recovery plan which transforms our NHS into a modern service and protects primary care services from cuts.'
Russell Coulthard, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Acute Services, said: 'We are very sorry to hear of Mr Black's experience and we would like to apologise to him and his family for the upset this has caused.
'We are reviewing our patient pathway to help avoid a similar situation happening again and to help patients in these circumstances access appropriate care away from a busy A&E environment.
'We fully acknowledge the pressures on our A&E department and remain committed to improving patient experience, the working environment for our staff and reducing waiting times.'
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: 'We are sorry that Mr Black's experience fell short of the standards we expect. We are determined to improve patient experience and reduce long waits of this nature.
'Our A&E departments are facing sustained pressure; this situation is not unique to Scotland. Some people are still waiting too long for treatment, and we are determined to drive improvement.
'We are investing £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges'
'To help ease the pressure on teams, we will provide direct access to specialist Frailty teams in every Emergency Department and expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026. These are just a few of the initiatives we are implementing to shift the focus of care from acute settings to community-based services.'
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