Four day trolley wait apology

It was the first time the woman had been admitted to a hospital

A grandmother who spent four days and nights on a trolley while waiting for a bed has received an apology from hospital officials.

The 55-year-old woman was eventually admitted to a ward 96-and-a-half hours after being taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea with pneumonia and heart problems.

A spokesman for Swansea NHS Trust said the wait was "an exception."

The woman was discharged the following day after treatment.

Her husband, who did not want to be named, said: "This is the first time she has been in hospital. After paying national insurance all our lives we expected something better."

My wife was extremely ill and then she was made extremely uncomfortable Patient's husband

His wife was taken by ambulance to Morriston at 2100 GMT last Thursday and spent the next 16 hours on a trolley inside the accident and emergency unit.

'Totally unacceptable'

She was then wheeled off on the same trolley to spend a further 80 and a half hours in a holding bay.

A bed finally became available at 2100 BST on Monday.

Her husband added: "My wife was extremely ill and then she was made extremely uncomfortable."

Hospital managers say in the holding bay, the nurse-to- patient ratio is high and all patients were closely monitored.

Since 2002, the number of trolley waits at the hospital has gone up six fold, a statistic Swansea Community Health Council called "appalling."

Sandra Owen, chief officer for the patients' watchdog body, said, "As far as I am aware this is a record for the whole of the UK. It is totally unacceptable."

Plaid Cymru AM and Swansea GP Dai Lloyd called for an inquiry.

"It's a reflection of the fact of what I've been banging on about for years - that we meed more beds," he said.

A trust spokesman said it had apologised and was reviewing the situation.

The trust handled 350 medical admissions, 320 surgical admissions and 2,000 accident and emergency attendances each week.

He said: "It is the exception for patients to wait over 12 hours in A&E or to remain in the temporary ward facilities.

"New arrangements for bed management are being introduced into the Trust with the aim of further reducing delays between assessment and admission.."