A man has described scenes "from a doomsday film" in a crisis-hit hospital where his dad had to wait hours to be seen despite a suspected heart attack.
Joe Doran has spoken of trying to get his dad, Jim Birch, to hospital after he was showing signs of a potential heart attack. Having waited more than three hours for an ambulance, Joe and his family drove their dad to Whiston Hospital where he described horrifying scenes.
Joe, 32, from Huyton, said: "Dad had been complaining of chest pains and shooting pains down his arm, he is not one to complain and he was really struggling so we could tell something was wrong. My aunty is a former nurse and she came round and said she thought it could be a heart attack."
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Jim's concerned family called for an ambulance at around 10.30pm on Tuesday night. When no one had arrived by 1am they called again, only to be told it could be a further three hours before any paramedics were available to reach them.
Joe said: "We couldn't believe it, dad was on the floor in agony and said he couldn't get up, but we told him if we couldn't get him up he might die there on the carpet, so we managed to lift him into the car and drive to Whiston Hospital."
Arriving at the hospital, the family witnessed scenes that are now a horrible reality of the current NHS crisis. Joe said: "There were 10 or 12 ambulances just parked up with their lights on that couldn't get in.
"Inside A&E was like something from a doomsday film, there were patients lying all over the floor, there were no seats at all so we had to put dad in a triage room.
"When I walked up to the reception there was a note that said the wait would be at least eight hours and that there were 128 people waiting to be seen. I chatted to one patient who had been waiting there for 30 hours. It was so, so bad - I couldn't believe it, I've never seen a hospital like that before. They just didn't have the staff or the beds to cope."
Joe and his dad's account is just the latest in a long and harrowing line that are lifting the lid on what patients and staff are going through during the emergency care crisis. Earlier this week the ECHO reported on a 92-year-old woman who told her family she wanted to die during a 33-hour wait on a packed corridor at Aintree Hospital.
Thankfully Jim was quickly given an ECG scan and a heart attack was ruled out. When he spoke with a doctor the next day it was suggested his pains could be muscle-related.
A spokesperson for the St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust, which runs Whiston Hospital, said: “As with all other hospitals across the country, we have experienced unprecedented demand for our emergency care services.
"Our staff are responding to this increased pressure with exceptional professionalism and are working incredibly hard throughout the hospital to manage demand. We appreciate how difficult the current situation is and would like to thank the public for their continued support and kindness.”
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