MP Phillips hits out over NHS after fearing father would die
BIRMINGHAM MP Jess Phillips has condemned the government’s handling of the NHS after fearing her father would die in a 17-hour A&E wait.
The Yardley Labour MP was in London when she heard her father, Stewart Trainor, 78, needed hospital treatment for suspected sepsis.
She raced back to Birmingham last Wednesday to be with Mr Trainor, a retired teacher who has chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Ms Phillips says she was forced to drive her father to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the evening after paramedics failed to show at his home – despite her brother ringing 111 at 10am. Ms Phillips says her dad was “disorientated” and “shaking”. She described the incident as “harrowing”.
The 41-year-old says her father was moved from a waiting room to a chair with other elderly patients in a side room at around 3am. Ms Phillips was told to go home and return at 9am.
Despite 17 hours in A&E, the Birmingham MP says dozens of other patients were still in front of Mr Trainor, who was diagnosed with a severe infection.
“It was frightening and I cried on a number of occasions,” said Ms Phillips.
“I thought I’ll wake up and come back and they’ll tell me he’s dead. I got back and he was still in the same chair.
“If anything his health worsened while we were at the hospital. His temperature massively increased.’’
His family, under doctor’s advice, decided to take Mr Trainor home to care for him after he was given antibiotics.
“We’re lucky because there’s a few of us who can work in shifts and make home like a bit of a hospital. But I’m frightened because it could still turn into sepsis.
“It’s harrowing but I can’t stress enough how good all the staff were. There are huge numbers of vacancies and problems with staff retention.The system just seems to be on its knees,” she said.
“I’m so angry. I kept trying to imagine a situation where Rishi Sunak is in the same position as my dad.
“But there is no world in which Rishi Sunak is in that waiting room.”
A record 43,792 people waited longer than 12 hours to be admitted to a ward in October, according to latest NHS figures. That was a 34 per cent rise compared to September (32,776) – and the highest since records began in 2010.