‘My daughter had to wait in A&E for seven hours’
‘THERE WERE PEOPLE SITTING ON FLOOR AND LYING IN CORRIDOR’
A WOMAN claims she waited for seven hours at Hillingdon A&E for her daughter to be seen.
Elizabeth Schyns, 26, attended the urgent treatment centre with her mother, Sara, after a GP told her she needed medical attention while suffering from a swollen and bruised ankle.
Sara claims they saw a sign telling them the wait would be three to five hours when they arrived at the hospital at 5pm on May 17.
She said there were around 40 chairs, all taken by other patients, adding that the A&E waiting area was so busy that people were sat on the floor or in wheelchairs instead.
Sara said: “People were sitting on the floor in A&E as there was nowhere to sit – one man was lying in the corridor.
“He obviously felt so rough and there was no where for him to sit.”
As the night went on at Hillingdon A&E, Sara said the experience did not get better, claiming one reception staff member was “rude” and that Elizabeth was not seen until almost midnight.
Leaving the hospital, Sara said there were “no bins”, meaning rubbish was “all over the floor” of the waiting area which she branded “disgusting.”
Elizabeth was unsure how she hurt her ankle but, on the advice of her GP, she attended A&E as a matter of urgency.
The pair expected a wait of a couple of hours and claim they were even accepting of the fact it could be three to five hours, according to the sign they were met with upon arrival.
Preparing for a long wait, Sara said: “There weren’t enough chairs to go around. There’s people sitting on the floor. I’ve managed to find a wheelchair to sit in – not that I need a wheelchair. There was one chair by the door that I grabbed for my daughter because she had hurt her ankle and I sat in the wheelchair.”
However, as the night wore on, Sara said she lost patience.
Adding to the alleged long wait, she claimed at 8pm a receptionist was “rude” and told her that they did not have a running order for patients and therefore could not tell them how long the wait would be.
Sara claims she then spoke to another receptionist who said there is a list and that the wait would be another two hours. She claims she asked for an ice pack for her daughter’s ankle but was told they had none.
“I just could not get over it. If anybody told me this [story] I would have thought they were exaggerating,” Sara said.
At 11.30pm, she claims a radiographer X-rayed Elizabeth’s ankle but they were allegedly told doctors could not read the X-ray “properly” until 9am the next morning because they “did not have the correct screen” to do so.
She said she was told: “Unfortunately, I’ve only got a tiny screen here in A&E to have a look. Only the office staff have got the bigger screen and they won’t be in until 9am.”
The doctors told Elizabeth her ankle probably was not broken but they would be in touch in the morning after reading the X-ray.
Sara said: “So I said, ‘Oh, my goodness me, you’re in A&E and you can’t read an X-ray properly because you haven’t got a big screen?, This is madness.’ ‘I know,’ he said.”
Doctors suspected soft tissue damage and Elizabeth was told she could leave. At midnight, they left the hospital and Sara claims there were no bins so rubbish was on the floor of the waiting area.
She said: “We walk out and there are no bins. Whatsoever. No bins at all. So people have been eating and drinking. So where were the sandwich boxes? Where were the empty cans of Coke? Where were the empty water bottles? “All on the floor. Along with dirty masks. Not a bin in sight. It was disgusting. Absolutely awful.” She said they have had positive experiences at the hospital prior to the alleged incident. Sara said: “I’d been up to A&E with my daughter when she was a child, she chipped a tooth and she fell over playing basketball. She even fractured her hip and it’s never been like that.
“You expect a couple of hours and you can sort of put up with that, but seven hours. Oh my goodness.” We contacted the Urgent Treatment Centre at Hillingdon Hospital for comment.
There weren’t enough chairs to go around. There’s people sitting on the floor.
Mum Sara