NHS wait woman 'would have died if we did not act'
BBCA series of delays across the NHS nearly cost a woman her life after her colon burst and she developed septicaemia, her husband says.
Andrew Jones and his wife Diane phoned 999 twice before driving to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon - 24 miles (39km) from their home near Launceston in Cornwall. However, they had to wait for hours as her condition worsened and she underwent emergency surgery.
"She would have died if we hadn't acted – there's no doubt about it," Jones said.
University Hospitals Plymouth and the South Western Ambulance Service both apologised and said they were under "significant pressure".
Diane Jones fell ill suddenly at the end of September with a perforated colon that was poisoning her body.
"She was in agony by the end. She... she was really, really unwell," her husband said.
The couple and their daughter rang 111 but the call remained unanswered for seven minutes, so they dialled 999.
After the third call to 999, the couple decided to go to hospital in their daughter's pickup truck "along bumpy roads, as steady as possible".
They reached Derriford after almost an hour and were met with an extremely busy Emergency Department (ED).
"It was like a war zone. I've never seen anything like it," Jones said.
But, despite his wife being in extreme pain, and Andrew and daughter Sienna repeatedly asking for help, it took hours before she was seen by a consultant.
"My wife was deteriorating. She looked really grey, and my daughter said: 'We can't go on with this, we're going to have to get a doctor,'" Andrew explained.
"So I went up to the administrator and asked her if we could have a doctor, and she said it'll be at least eight hours... and I said: 'We just can't, I think she's going to die.'"
He said he was then accused by the administrator of being aggressive: "I put my hands up, I said I'm not. I'm just asking for a doctor, that's all".
In total, it took about four-and-a-half hours before a consultant saw her.
That consultant recognised the seriousness of her condition and, within a few hours, the 78-year-old was having lifesaving surgery.
Andrew said: "We were told it would be a three-hour operation, but it ended up being six.
"The surgeon came to us afterwards and told us it had been one of the most difficult of his career because of the damage done."
The hospital's own guidance suggests patients – particularly those showing signs of potential serious illness - should be triaged within 15 minutes after arrival.
Diane Jones was assessed by a nurse 48 minutes after arriving.
It should then have been a maximum of an hour before she saw a doctor - but it was another three-and-a-half hours until a consultant arrived - and only after her husband repeatedly asked for help.
"If we'd taken our place in the queue like we were being told to do, my wife would have died," he said.
Family handoutAndrew said: "It's the system that's at fault, not the staff doing their very best to help people in need.
"We saw people with toothache, broken fingers. There was one person that was handcuffed to a wheelchair with two police officers; there were drunk people – it was really intimidating.
"And sometimes it looked as though they were being prioritised - I've read that happens to get the waiting times down."
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine claimed this could be the case.
Its president, Dr Ian Higginson, said: "As an emergency doctor, it's heartbreaking that patients arrive to our EDs in their time of need, and we can't do our jobs properly because we are full.
"To make things worse, we are being asked to focus on the least sick patients to try and marginally improve headline statistics, rather than on those who need our services the most".
The latest figures showed performances in the NHS in the South West were again some of the worst in the country.
Only 36.2% of patients at Derriford's ED were seen within four hours in September - the England average is 60.6 %.
It puts the region's biggest hospital at the bottom of the national rankings for emergency care, which it has been for the past eight months.
It is a similar picture for the South Western Ambulance Service - which is in the bottom three for the most serious incidents in September.
Safe, compassionate care
The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said it was "sincerely sorry that Mrs Jones did not receive the timely assessment and care she needed" and "her care fell short of what she should have received".
It said: "Our emergency department faces significant pressures, including staffing challenges, limited space and difficulties moving patients to onward care.
"We recognise the impact on both patients and staff, and are supporting our teams to deliver the safe, compassionate care they want to provide.
"Care should be prioritised by clinical urgency, not order of arrival".
It added: "Our improvement work and winter planning are focused on reducing these delays."
Family handoutThe South Western Ambulance service also said it was sorry as, at the time of the first 999 call, it was "experiencing a high level of demand, and we had to prioritise our ambulances for patients in a life-threatening condition".
It added: "This demand was further compounded by hospital handover delays and system pressures within the wider NHS and social care.
"We continue to work incredibly hard with our partners to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive."
HUC, which provides the 111 service to Cornwall, said: "Calls to NHS 111 are answered as quickly as possible, although patients may experience delays during periods of high demand.
Andrew Jones said he was a staunch NHS supporter but "something is wrong with the system".
He said: "The nurses and doctors are doing their very best. But the system isn't being managed properly.
"People are being lost because of it – it has to change".
