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My mum's poor experience

Posted By Redboxer

"My mum's poor experience"

About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department

(as a carer),

My mum waited 5hr 45 min on ambulance were waiting in A&E for 6hrs 30min to see a doctor yet, we were sent here by doctor and district nurses after mum has fell 14 times in past 3 days she has cancer dementia was told to pack her bag as she would be admitted.

She was sat in a chair for all this time, not only has she not had anything to eat, she is very agitated and I am finding the staff disrespectful, not helping us or even caring when my mum kicked off because of her illness, she has cracked ribs, sore back, bruising all over and possible other injuries.

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Baillie, Improvement Advisor, Quality Directorate, NHS Lanarkshire 4 months ago
Jennifer Baillie
Improvement Advisor, Quality Directorate,
NHS Lanarkshire

assists with admin of Care Opinion in NHS Lanarkshire. requires access to all NHS Lanarkshire stories

Submitted on 28/02/2025 at 17:24
Published on Care Opinion at 17:24

picture of Jennifer Baillie

Dear Redboxer

Thank you for sharing your experience of University Hospital Wishaw ED

I am sorry to hear of the long wait that you and your mum have experienced when attending ED. Unfortunately, our services are under extreme pressures at the moment and our staff are working as quickly and safely as possible to see and treat patients. This will of course not help with an already worrying time I am sure.

I will ensure I pass your comments to the team and if you would like to discuss the waiting times further then please contact our Patient Affairs team on the below details.

patientaffairs@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk

01698 752 800

Kind Regards

Jen

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Response from Mark Hannan, Head of Corporate Affairs and Engagement, Scottish Ambulance Service 4 months ago
Mark Hannan
Head of Corporate Affairs and Engagement,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 03/03/2025 at 10:21
Published on Care Opinion at 10:21

Hi Redboxer,

I see that my colleague from NHS Lanarkshire has already responded but I just wanted to also pass on our apologies from the Scottish Ambulance Service for your mum's long wait.

As Jen says above, NHS Services are under extreme pressure and this can sometimes lead to patients waiting longer than we would like. We're really sorry that this happened in your mum's case. I can understand how distressing and frustrating that will have been for your mum and the family.

We'd also be happy to look into the case further if you'd like to see if there is anything we can explain from an ambulance service perspective what may have happened that day. If you'd like us to do so, could you send some further details (name, address, date, brief details of the complaint) to sas.feedback@nhs.scot.

Apologies once again. I hope your mum is doing ok.

Thanks

Mark

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Redboxer (a carer)

Hi Mark, I understand the NHS ambulance service is under a lot of pressure especially when you see them sitting outside A&E for hours, it's taking away vital resources from the ambulance service and its a job that should not have this, especially when peoples life are at risk,

I waited 3hrs recently, on another ambulance while my dad lay on kitchen floor unconscious and had to leave him to go get a de-fibulator, I am a trained first aider, my dad survived, my mum survived.

Not everyone will. Ambulance needs priority to offload into holding area and get back out on duty asap, however it appears to me that our healthcare system has been breaking for years, and we should all respect our NHS workers - who try their best often with little support. I believe it's the people at the top who should be making changes.

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