Nurses are having to buy food for patients out of their own pocket at a Welsh hospital.
A man who waited 30 hours in A&E said the situation there was “disgusting”. Paul Terell from Treherbert, went to A&E at the Royal Glamorgan after he experienced shortness of breath on Saturday night. The scene he described was all too familiar for NHS users in recent years.
The huge issues and pressures facing the welsh NHS have been well documented. There are massive backlogs, many of which predate Covid. There are also real problems getting people out of hospital beds and into social care. The inability to admit people from A&E has also led to many ambulances being unable to offload patients and effectively being used as an auxiliary for accident and emergency. You can get more health news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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This is turn has impacted on the Welsh Ambulance Service's ability to effectively handle emergency calls, meaning longer than normal waits even for serious emergencies. Mr Terell said he did try to call an ambulance but the wait times were staggering. His wife Nicola said: “We phoned for an ambulance and even though he was high priority we were told it was a six to eight-hour wait.”
When he did arrive in A&E his principal frustration was the lack of food.
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“To be honest, initially they were pretty efficient,” he said. “I was triaged within half an hour and put in a room in A&E. But they don't feed you anymore in A&E. I'm diabetic myself and there were others there who were diabetic. You are expected to feed yourself. I spoke to nurses to say it was disgusting and they said it is not the nurses' fault, it is the catering's. One nurse said he had gone to try and get a loaf of bread to feed patients and they wouldn't even give it to them. From what I could gather there, there was a lot of animosity between them and the catering team
“One nurse said that she actually bought food for one patient because, obviously they didn't have any money. She said she went out and bought someone a pack of biscuits. They expect you to be there for four hours so they don't supply you with food. Basically you have got to fend for yourself.
"Luckily my wife went out and got sandwiches. There were no pillows at all either, so I put my head on my jacket. I understand that A&E is busy but they have to feed people. No-one goes in when they are feeling well, everyone there needs looking after and should be fed.”
According to Mr Terell he was able to secure “one piece of toast and butter” for breakfast. A nurse told him that “sometimes” catering supplied some food for dinner but “you’d be very lucky if they do”.
Mr Terell, 55, said that, beyond the food issue, it was a confusing situation in the hospital. “A nurse told me my infection markers were through the roof and they were worried I had a clot,” he said, adding: “But then the consultant said I was fine, they told you different things.”
First Minister Mark Drakeford was recently challenged about the issues in the health service by Andrew RT Davies. This led to the First Minister losing his temper in the Senedd. You can see that moment here.
A spokeswoman for Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB said: “We cannot comment on the details of this patient’s experience. However, we encourage the patient to get in touch with us directly so that we can explore his concerns further.”
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