"Lack of Treament"

My dad attended an appointment with a Cardiologist at ARI in April. At that time, dad was told that he needed double bypass heart surgery and 2 heart valves replaced/repaired. The timescale for the surgery was given as 3 – 4 months but, apparently, dad would be marked as “serious. ”

In May, dad was admitted to the Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick, Shetland, with chest pains. Dad explained to the Doctors there that he was awaiting word from ARI with regard to his surgery. The Doctors at the Gilbert Bain Hospital contacted the cardiology team in Aberdeen and a decision was made to transfer dad to ARI. Dad had to wait until a week until a bed in Aberdeen was available and he was transferred via Air Ambulance to ARI. The day after arrival, some of dad’s medication was stopped in preparation for surgery. The next again day, dad had a visit from a Consultant who told dad that he was being sent home because ARI were only dealing with emergencies at the moment. As you can imagine, the stress this has caused dad and all of the family is incredible. When does a non-emergency become an emergency? After all the effort of ARI accepting dad and dad being transferred at cost by Air Ambulance, it seems ridiculous that dad has now just been sent home with no indication when he might get his surgery. Of course, dad has asked when it might be but has not had a clear answer. One of the Doctors dad spoke to before he left ARI this morning did tell him that he does need surgery and they hoped it would be soon. I entirely appreciate that there are emergency cases but, at what point does someone who needs heart surgery not become an emergency?

Also, after being hooked up to machines for 10 days from being in hospital and not being well, it was ok for dad to be left to his own devices to travel back to Shetland?

After being told he was being sent home, Dad asked one of the nurses on the Coronary Care ward if it was possible to get the surgery done elsewhere. Dad was told that, apparently, most of the Coronary Care units in Scotland are only dealing with emergency patients at the moment. Surely this can’t be correct?