A terminally ill teenager endured a harrowing 14-hour wait on a hospital corridor trolley before being admitted to intensive care.
Leanne McAvoy faced every parent’s nightmare when she rushed her son Mark to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s A&E on January 6, following severe stomach pain and vomiting. Despite his critical condition, including Cerebral Palsy and Scoliosis, 18 year old Mark was informed that no beds were available, leaving him in agony in the hallway.
As his health rapidly declined, Mark was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer the next day, leading to an arduous eight-hour surgery on Wednesday. Post-operation, he was moved to ICU and placed into an induced coma to allow his body to recover from the traumatic experience.
Leanne, 43, from Govan, Glasgow, has accused the hospital of lacking the necessary resources to provide adequate care for Mark, asserting that her son’s current comatose state could have been avoided had he received prompt treatment upon arrival at the hospital, reports The Mirror affiliate the Daily Record.
The distressed mother recounted: “I had phoned NHS 24 and they advised we should go to hospital, so I took him over in the car. I explained to the reception staff about his other conditions and that his health can deteriorate fast and they said they didn’t have any beds.”
“They left him on that trolley in a corridor for 14 hours and his heart rate was racing up and down. I told nurses he had been on end-of-life care for the last two years, but no one seemed to take into account what was happening.”
“We sat, and sat and sat, while I kept telling them Mark was getting worse. He was in so much pain at that point. I began to panic because I could see we were starting to lose him. I was watching him deteriorate in front of my eyes.”
“I eventually ended up having to call get a nurse from the hospice we are supported by to come to the hospital and speak to the staff. But if he had been seen quicker he might not be in a coma now fighting for his life.” Mark remains in a coma as Leanne hit out at the state of the NHS.
It comes after John Swinney announced he has taken direct control of his Government’s response to the crisis-hit service. The First Minister is chairing weekly health service meetings and also visited an accident and emergency unit in Edinburgh earlier this year to understand the “enormity” of the challenges.
Experts warned the NHS is at breaking point, with demand for care soaring and staffing levels at breaking point. Over 800,000 Scots are on waiting lists and nearly 1700 people waited over twelve hours in A+E over Christmas. Leanne continued: “The Scottish Government needs to take action and put more funding into the NHS.”
“It’s about time John Swinney faced up to this crisis – but I hope he takes real action and doesn’t just hold a bunch of meetings. The hospitals don’t have the resources they need and the result is hat my son has been failed, big time.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has apologised to Mark’s family. A spokesperson commented, “As is the case throughout the country, all our services are under considerable pressure, and the arrival of winter has brought additional challenges. While we cannot comment on individual patient cases due to confidentiality, we would like to apologise to Mark and his family for the distress caused by any delay in treatment.”
The Scottish Government also apologised following the Daily Record’s coverage.
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