Scottish Daily Mail

Sturgeon apologises after OAP’s 16-hour wait for treatment

- By Michael Blackley

NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday apologised after being challenged about a pensioner who waited more than 16 hours for treatment during the NHS winter crisis.

Tom Wilson, 80, from Newtongran­ge, Midlothian, was lying bleeding waiting for an ambulance for more than three hours after falling at home on New Year’s Day.

He then had to wait a further 13 hours on a trolley before being treated at Edinburgh Royal Informary.

His son, Michael Wilson, wrote to SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison at the weekend to complain about him being left ‘like an old cow waiting to die’.

He only received an acknowledg­ment to his email yesterday afternoon – hours after the case was raised at First Minister’s Questions by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.

Michael Wilson said: ‘It was very worrying. He is getting older and you just want answers. The staff just don’t have any time they are so stretched. I feel sorry for them because they were brilliant but they just don’t have time to spend with patients or to deal with people.’

Yesterday, during First Ministers Question’s, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I say sorry to Mr Wilson if that was his experience. I said earlier this week that we apologise unreserved­ly not just at winter but at any time of the year to any patient who waits longer than they should do for treatment.’

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