AN A&E patient was reportedly told to wait twelve hours to be seen by a doctor at Royal Bournemouth Hospital as the NHS continues to face "sustained pressure".
A woman visiting the hospital said she was asked to wait twelve hours, six hours after she had arrived in the A&E department on Monday, August 15.
The situation at the hospital has since been described as ‘atrocious’ by her partner.
He said: “We got there about 1pm, and after a good six hours, one of the doctors came out and basically said if you’re not in the back of an ambulance, if you’re not already in bed or if you’re not a child, you’re looking at about a 12-hour waiting time.”
The woman had gone to A&E with heart palpations, but left six hours later and unseen, after feeling she couldn’t wait anymore.
- Read more: Pressures increasing at Poole Hospital emergency department
Her partner said: “Whilst we were sat in there, we could see the ambulances building up outside.
"When we first got there, there was maybe three or four, but by the time we were leaving, there were 17 of them sat there.
“The patients were still in the ambulances. They literally had zero beds available to go into.”
Bed shortages and increased wait times seems to be all too familiar for emergency departments across the UK as they continue to face significant and sustained pressure.
Read more: Pressures being faced every day by Dorset NHS hospital staff
Dr Tristan Richardson, medical director for medicine at University Hospitals Dorset, said: “While under such sustained pressure we regret that we are unable to see all patients as soon as we would like and apologise for the anxiety and concern these delays will cause. To help us see patients in order of clinical need, patients are triaged on arrival, with the most seriously ill prioritised.
“We continue to encourage the public to access the right healthcare such as primary care, the NHS 111 service and local pharmacies, for their needs, whilst we continue to work hard to enable our teams to see patients as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “The whole health and social care system has been under sustained pressure for many months now, this means that some patients are having to wait longer for an ambulance than they would expect.
“Our performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to handover delays at emergency departments. “
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