"What I witnessed shocked me to the core"

I am writing to let you know of a recent experience at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

I was referred by my GP by letter to attend the hospital's  Combined Assessment Unit due to severe headaches. Having been told there was the possibility of meningitis/blood clot. Upon arriving I logged my arrival at reception and was told to wait in the entrance waiting room, what I will call Waiting Area 1.

Around three hours later I was seen by a nurse for initial triage where they took observations/blood for testing. I was then put in what we will call Waiting Area 2, where I was finally seen by a doctor. After relaying my symptoms again, I was put back into Waiting Area 2 until the first doctor consulted with another, that took a further 2 hours.

Following consulting again, I was told I must be admitted into a bed and cannot go home due to blood clot risk and had to get an MRI scan. I was then put back into Waiting Room 1.

At this point, myself and the other patients in Waiting Room 1 had been there for more than 8 hours.

This included many older and vulnerable patients, one of whom was sleeping on the floor. All of them in the waiting room for going on 10 hours. I was speechless.

The nurse arrived to tell us there was only 3 beds left but 7/8 of us, and they would be prioritised for the oldest or the ambulance. Which meant we couldn’t go home - or be put back at the end of the queue the next day - we would have to sit in a waiting room all night. They don’t do scans at night they told us.

There was an elderly patient who couldn’t walk, the wheelchair they were using was removed and they had to sit in the waiting room. They had to rely on strangers to assist them to the bathroom, eat and function. There were no nurses to help. I feel it was so horrendous that rather than give this patient a wheelchair, they were doing their observations and disclosing their medical conditions in the waiting room, in front of everyone.

I became critically ill, and told the nurse I was getting worse - I was swiftly put on a trolley and taken to the beds in the Rapid Assessment Unit, and put at the bottom of a corridor at an exit door. No blankets, no sheets. Nothing. Until I got asked after 2 hours if I wanted a blanket.

I didn’t care, at least I could lay down. However 3 hours later I got told I’m not allowed to be there and was out back into the waiting room to wait for the scan. Upon arriving at Waiting Area 1 I was met with the exact same people from the night. All still there.

At this point, myself and others had been waiting for 19 hours

I was moved to Waiting Area 2 for another 3-hour wait until I got the MRI eventually. Following this, I was told 1 hour for results.

This was another 4-hour wait for results. To be told to go home that nothing was found. No follow up, no medication, nothing.

All in all, I was in Crosshouse Hospital for a critical illness stuck in waiting rooms for 29 hours. During this time, at any point I couldn’t became severely ill. Some people were. I was not alone, everyone who was admitted at the same time as me was still present in a waiting room the next days.

What I witnessed at this hospital shocked me to the core. For me, this was not the UK in 2023, this was like a warzone.

In my view, this hospital is not fit for purpose, and I believe is actively making patients ill and suffer unnecessarily.

People are dying.