Published: Thursday, 4th December, 2008 15:45
Inverkeithing woman forced to wait seven hours in hospital cubicle
By Matt Meade
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A WEST FIFE woman was made to wait seven hours in a cubicle at the Queen Margaret Hospital before staff could find her an available bed in a ward.
Helen Bates (48), Roods Crescent, Inverkeithing, was taken to the Dunfermline hospital after a sudden illness on Friday.
After receiving treatment at 1pm for an hour she had to wait until 9pm before being taken to an acute ward for further assessment.
She told the Press she’s now concerned that her experience will be repeated for other patients until more beds are made available.
The mum-of-two, who was discharged on Saturday and has since made a full recovery, said, “According to the patients’ charter the waiting time for a hospital ward from A&E is supposed to be no more than four hours.
“There was a lady in her 70s in the cubicle opposite mine and she had to wait as well.
"I was able to get up and walk around but she had nowhere else to go.
“People think how can there be no beds when it’s a hospital full of wards? But it’s true, there are none.”
She continued, “I was admitted by ambulance and told I would have to go up to Ward 8, which is an assessment ward, to find out the treatment needed.
"But because the beds there are taken up by patients that the hospital has nowhere else to put that’s why people have to wait for seven hours.”
Mrs Bates, who works as a chef, said she sympathised with hospital staff, who could do little to help the situation.
“It’s just as frustrating for the nurses,” she added. “They feel they can’t give people the proper treatment because they don’t have the facilities to do it.
“We used to have Milesmark Hospital, which used to care for elderly patients, and there were wards in Lynebank Hospital, which were used as transition stops before going into residential care, all of which now are closed.”
Helen Eadie, Labour MSP for Dunfermline East, said, “Our cabinet secretary has given her own assurances of a limit of four hours waiting time.
“I’ll be checking that out. It’s a cause for concern, and to hear an older woman was in the same situation is also worrying.”
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said patient confidentiality prevented them from making public comment on the treatment of individual patients.
She added, “What we can say is that 98 per cent of our patients who attend Accident & Emergency (A&E) are seen, treated and discharged home or admitted within four hours of arriving at A&E.
“When, for unavoidable reasons, patients are detained beyond this period in A&E, it is important to remember that they are in an appropriate setting for their clinical care to be continued whilst awaiting further treatment, investigation or admission.”
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