A 93-YEAR-OLD man who was rushed into York Hospital in an ambulance had to wait in A&E for 13 hours until a bed was available.

The man was taken into A&E on a trolley with pneumonia, a kidney infection and minor injuries following a fall at his York home but was forced to wait a further 13 hours before he could be given a bed on a ward.

The wait left the Second World War veteran feeling upset and confused, a relative has said.

Two days later, The Press understands a woman of about 100-years-old had to wait with paramedics for nearly four hours to be seen in A&E.

The reports came in as A&E departments across the country have reported one of their most difficult weeks in memory as services have been overwhelmed by demand.

The 93-year-old's granddaughter, who asked not to be named to protect his identity, said: "It's absolutely horrendous for an elderly person to have to wait that long in confusion for a bed. There needs to be some kind of provision in place. Who knows what effect it had on my already ill Granddad?

"It was crazy in A&E. It was bedlam, crazy."

Her grandfather was admitted at about 12pm on Monday, and was still waiting for a bed at 10pm. When his granddaughter rang to inquire about the situation at 11pm she said there was no record of him being admitted.

A bed was found for him at 1am on Tuesday. She said the staff apologised to her parents, stating a number of patients had been left in a similar position to her grandfather.

Meanwhile, a woman aged over 100-years-old was left waiting with ambulance paramedics on Wednesday night. Paramedics continued to provide care to her as she waited nearly four hours to be seen.

A paramedic, who asked not to be named, said: "It was just appalling. It's a failure of the system. Someone of that age should not be waiting that long. It's degrading."

As reported, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been overwhelmed with "unprecedented" numbers of seriously unwell patients over Christmas and New Year. Many patients ready to leave hospital have not been able to due to a lack of social care support.

A trust spokesman said: "While we are unable to comment on individual cases, we have been open and honest with regards to the pressures being placed on our emergency departments, and those across the country.

"Over the past weeks, we have seen an unprecedented demand for our services with high levels of attendances and ambulance arrivals.

“This week demand has been at its highest and we have seen a lot of very ill patients. Our staff are continuing to work closely with colleagues at Yorkshire Ambulance Service to ensure that patients with urgent health care requirements are prioritised according to their clinical needs.

"We are aware that some patients are having to wait longer than we would like and we would ask anyone who has concerns about their hospital experience to contact our PALS team."

Earlier this week, staff at York Hospital told of how morale had been affected as they worked to cope with the levels of demand.


Council committee to discuss recent hospital chaos

THE difficulties in A&E are due to be flagged up at a council meeting next week.

Cllr Paul Doughty, the chair of the health overview and scrutiny committee, has confirmed he will seek answers from the hospital at the Health Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday.

He was responding to a letter from the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for York, Nick Love in which Mr Love requested information about the "current figures on the 'care in community' places available to York Hospital – a lack of which may be exacerbating the problems at York Hospital".

Cllr Doughty said: "It is my intention to raise this under ‘urgent business’. I confirm that a request has been made that a member of the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust management team attends the Committee to discuss the recent challenges the hospital has faced.

"It is very short notice for a comprehensive report, which I prefer, to enable Members to be fully prepared and has benefits for scrutinising properly but the Trust has been asked to give a summary in advance.

"Depending on the response and indeed the will of members at Committee, it may be that they may also wish to examine this further at the February meeting."