NHS crisis: elderly dad's ambulance wait at Hereford hospital

The 85-year-old man was taken to hospital by ambulance where, after being admitted to the accident and emergency department, had emergency surgery for appendicitis.

Local artist Helen Parry, who shared a YouTube video of the experience after phoning 999 two days after Christmas, said it wasn’t a complaint and everyone she and her ill father saw was “amazing”.

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But she said it showed the pressure on the NHS, with her dad waiting two hours in the back of an ambulance and then facing a seven-hour wait for a scan.

She said it was rare for someone of her dad's age to have a problem with their appendix so she phoned a GP about the pain in the right side of his stomach.

Helen Parry has told of her dad's experience at Hereford County Hospital (Image: Tiny Trekker/YouTube)

The doctor didn't think it was his appendix but said if the pain gets worse, to get back in touch.

After a bad night when the pain got worse, Ms Parry called 999 and an ambulance was dispatched – arriving with 30 minutes which was "pretty good, to be fair", she said.

He was given painkillers, including morphine, by paramedics and taken to hospital.

"What was sad was that dad then had to wait for two hours in the ambulance because they couldn't get him into the hospital because they were so jam-packed full of people," she said.

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"Bless then, these people do the most amazing jobs, absolutely, they are incredible. They do a really fantastic job in really difficult circumstances.

"They need more support, they need more people working, they need more of everything really."

'He could have died'

She said the really sad thing was that for the two hours they were waiting in the ambulance, it couldn't be sent to other jobs to help other patients.

Ms Parry did say that her dad did need the ambulance though as "he could have died".

After being admitted, he waited a couple of hours to be told there was a seven-hour wait for the scanner, she said.

Helen Parry's 85-year-old father after being admitted to Hereford County Hospital (Image: Tiny Trekker/YouTube)

In the early hours of the morning, he then had emergency surgery to remove his appendix which she said was inflamed and "imminently about to possibly burst".

Time lost to ambulance handover delays

Latest figures show that during the week to January 1, 190 hours were lost to ambulance handover delays, which is the time patients spent with paramedics at the hospital before being handed over to A&E staff.

This can either be in the hospital or in ambulances outside, with 94 patients waiting for more than 60 minutes. That means around 50 per cent of patients faced a wait of an hour or more, above the England average of 34 per cent.

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That is lower than the 223 hours lost to handover delays in the week to December 25, with 105 patients waiting for more than an hour.

But extra beds have been brought in to try and move patients on from A&E with chief nursing officer Lucy Flanagan saying people should consider GPs, pharmacies and NHS 111 if it is not a medical emergency.

Ambulance waiting outside Hereford County Hospital's accident and emergency department on Tuesday, January 3 (Image: Rob Davies)

The hospital has not diverted to another yet this winter, with it catering for the 190,000 Herefordshire population and further afield into Mid Wales. 

Government Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said he recognised staff were under “tremendous pressure”, but the government had offered more resources to the NHS and social care to help services cope.

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