Gran, 84, forced to wait ten hours to see doctor during NHS Grampian critical incident

On Saturday, Katie Ramsay’s 84-year-old grandmother, Edna, had to be taken to A&E at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.

It was the same day NHS Grampian declared a critical incident due to “extreme pressure” on their emergency services.

Some patients were sent to neighbouring health boards, but those who were not faced long waits.

Katie’s grandmother did get some tests after a few hours, but had to wait ten hours to see a doctor.

“She was poorly a week ago and had to go to Dr Gray’s on Friday for a blood test, and that was it, we went home”, she told STV News.

“Then on Saturday, I got a voicemail saying I had to get Gran to the hospital as soon as possible, as her bloods came back really low, so they need to check on her.

NHS Grampian blamed the local public holiday and staffing shortages on the critical incident STV News

“So I took her to the A&E, and they warned we were in for a wait.

“It was two hours in before they took her through for a blood test, then we went back to the waiting room, then waited another two hours, then an ACG, then told to go back to the waiting room. By that point, it was just mobbed. It was chaotic.

“It was close to about seven hours before she got taken through, then another three hours before she saw a doctor.”

The health board says the main pressure came when Dr Gray’s no longer had the capacity to safely admit patients, and pressure built up at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

It blamed the local public holiday and staffing shortages, adding that overcapacity in hospitals and delays to discharging patients also contributed to the situation.

Katie described it as feeling like they were “in a pen”.

“It was all just bizarre how they wanted us in urgently and just had her waiting for so long”, she added. “No updates, no one really came to see if anyone was okay, if anyone wanted any water.

“And it was just sad to see the state of the place.

“You think, 84, she’s worked all her days, and she’s been better treated elsewhere than sat in a plastic chair.

“The crowds of people that were there, a lot of people were in pain, and there were babies with blood coming from them. But it just felt like we were all in a pen.”

Figures show that Aberdeen’s emergency department has some of the longest waiting times in Scotland.

One of the main problems is the lack of capacity in community care, meaning people are stuck in the hospital for longer.

On a visit to Montrose on Monday, John Swinney said he is determined to tackle the issue.

The First Minister said: “We’ll work with NHS Grampian to resolve issues that are at stake, but part of the agenda must be about tackling the issue of delayed discharge where people are spending too long in hospital because care packages are not available at health and care social partnerships in the North East of Scotland.

“Now that’s not an issue that’s just limited to the north east of Scotland – that’s a wider issue.”

But this isn’t the first time this has happened – in November, two years ago, the health board declared a critical incident – a small number of patients were also diverted from Grampian back then.

Following improved hospital capacity at ARI, the board-level critical incident was stood down on Monday, however, a hospital-level critical incident for Dr Gray’s Hospital will remain in place until further notice.

On Monday, NHS Grampian thanked staff for their efforts and apologised to those who have faced long waits, but also warned that continued pressure means the system and staff remain stretched.