"Elderly dad turned away from out of hours service."

My elderly dad who is in his 70's presented at Arbroath Infirmary out of hours service.  

He had been feeling unwell over the course of the day with pins and needles running up and down his arms, increased urination and diarrhea which had steadily becoming worse until he made the decision to take a taxi to what he thought was still an operational A& E.  

When he arrived the doctor that spoke to him told him he could not be attended to and that he would not be seen until 9. 00pm, no reason given and that he was to go away and call NHS 24 before he returned.  

My dad left reluctantly feeling anxious and worried as his symptoms were becoming worse and called my younger sister to come and help him.   Upon receiving the call she was extremely alarmed and concerned to hear how upset and unwell he was sounding and dropped everything to go and get him.  

On arrival she could see how ill he was and immediately took him by car to Ninewells hospital, a 40 minute drive away (on a good day).   By the time they reached Ninewells he had become delirious and was babbling, but the staff there were great with him, couldn’t have been more helpful in stark contrast to the non-existent care he had received at Arbroath Infirmary.  

He was admitted straight away and a series of test were undertaken.   There was some concern that the pins and needles were related to his heart condition and an ECG was taken.   He had suffered a bad chest infection a few weeks prior and so an x-ray was taken, bloods were taken to check his blood sugar levels.   The eventual diagnosis was a bad urine infection and he was kept in overnight and administered antibiotics by IV.   As I write this he remains extremely upset at how he was turned away from his local hospital when he was quite obviously seriously unwell and in need of urgent medical attention. I feel that this is disappointing to say the least given that the next nearest hospital is many miles away in Dundee.  I feel that my dad was lucky this time.