A 65-YEAR-OLD woman with a suspected brain bleed spent 37 hours in the A&E department at The Grange University Hospital.
Irene Jones was admitted to hospital on January 6, after being referred immediately by her GP for suspected brain bleed with high blood pressure.
Mrs Jones husband, Allan, said: “We arrived into the hospital at 3.50pm. She was triaged within an hour and told to wait in reception area, she did not get to see A&E clinician until 5.15am on January 7, more than 14 hours later.”
The clinician also suspected Mrs Jones had a brain bleed and ordered a CT on her head. But she was told she needed an MRI which was done in the afternoon.
Read more about the Granger A&E here: ‘I felt unsafe’ – Shocking revelations at A&E with ‘drunk people’ and ‘no seats’
In-between scans she had to sit in the waiting room, which according to Mr Jones was “rammed”, because there were no beds available.
It was not until 5.15am on January 8 when Mrs Jones was able to get a proper sleep when a Health Care Assistant said she would be moved out of waiting area, 37 hours after she arrived.
A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which is under ‘extreme pressures’ said: “We’re sorry to hear of Mrs Jones’ experience and long wait.”
Mrs Jones was not moved to a ward because there were still no beds available.
Mr Jones said: “It was not a bed but a half-working reclining chair in an area with seven other patients in an area of A&E where two cubicles had no beds. At least she had chance to try to sleep. At 10.30 am on January 8, medical consultant checked my wife in this area surrounded by other patients.”
At around 3pm Mrs Jones, who has a terminal illness, was told her blood pressure had dropped enough for her to return home.
Mr Jones praised the staff’s behaviour and said: “My wife accepted it all stoically considering she has a terminal illness and other life limiting conditions.”
However, he said: “My take, the closure of other A&E units in the Aneurin Bevan Health Board and limited services at the minor injury system has contributed greatly to this position.”
The health board spokesperson said: “Our services are unfortunately facing the same extreme pressures that are being reported across the Wales and the UK.
“The high numbers of extremely unwell patients coming through our doors and difficulties with discharging patients who need help at home after discharge are causing significant delays to assessment in the Emergency Department, long waits for our Urgent and Emergency Care services and delays elsewhere in the system.
“These ongoing demands mean that not all of our patients have the experiences we would like them to have, and we are working as hard as we can to improve the timeliness of the care we provide.
“We hope that Mrs Jones has a speedy recovery and if her family has any concerns about her care whilst at The Grange University Hospital, we would encourage them to contact us directly so that we can address them.”