Wishaw hospital bosses say sorry to cancer patient for 6 hour A&E wait

Bosses at NHS Lanarkshire are saying sorry to a woman with terminal ovarian cancer who waited more than six hours to be seen by a doctor at Wishaw Hospital last month.

Tina McInnes had to go to A&E to get her tubes unblocked but was left in a waiting room in a wheelchair with a sick bowl.

Embarrassment

She said: "I was hunched over and in a lot of pain, it's not about skipping the queue because I understand the hospitals are busy but there has to be a better way of dealing with the volume of people.

"My time is limited because I am terminal and I want to be comfortable in my final days - not doubled over."

Tina was diagnosed at the end of last year and told she had just two or three weeks to live at the time.

Showing compassion

She remains on palliative care and has nurses coming to visit twice a day.

She also recently received letters of support from the First Minister and Prime Minister after helping set up the charity Homeless Project Scotland in 2019.

"I wish some of the people who run these hospitals would have more compassion because I am obviously going to die soon.

"We also need to encourage people to recognise when they should go to their GP or the pharmacy rather than clogging up hospitals."

An apology

Mr Martin Downey, Chief of Medical Services at University Hospital Wishaw, said: “We are very sorry to hear about Ms McInnes’ experience, and we would like to offer our sincere apologies to her for the distress and upset this has caused.

"We recognise how difficult and undignified this must have felt, particularly given Ms McInnes’ circumstances, and it is not the experience we would want for anyone.

“If Ms McInnes would like to, we would encourage her to contact our Patient Affairs team so we can better understand her experience and use this to inform improvements to care.”

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