Grange University Hospital: Patient describes 'panicked' staff after A&E visit left her 'distressed'

A former nurse has been left "distressed" after witnessing "unprecedented" pressure at a Welsh hospital, with patients left untreated and staff "panicked".

Karen O’Brien, from Caerphilly, had waited four hours for treatment at Grange Hospital's A&E department after she was advised to attend by her GP.

But she left - without receiving treatment - after witnessing concerning scenes at the stretched hospital department.

"I keep thinking of these people and if they're okay,'' Mrs O'Brien said.

''It's really distressed me. Even today I thought I was over it and then I just keep thinking about it all the time."

Reliving her experience, she told ITV Wales: "One thing that distressed me was an elderly gentleman.

"I heard he’d been there for nine hours the day before and then six hours on that day... He had such a bad fall and was in a wheelchair. His wife and a relative was sat outside in the car all that time waiting for him."

Mrs O’Brien claims nurses told the gentleman he’d be ‘next on the list’, but he left without being seen, after waiting a further hour and a half. 

"I said, I don't think you should be going and he said 'I'm not staying'."

The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran opened in November 2020 - four months earlier than planned - as part of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's response to the Covid pandemic.

Since the opening, the hospital has been under extreme criticism with a recent report showing that patients have been "at risk" and trainee doctors "scared to go to work". 

Continuing to describe her experience at the Grange, Mrs O’Brien claims an unconscious patient was left waiting to be seen. 

She said: "There was another young girl that was brought in in a wheelchair and she looked pretty unconscious when she was brought in.

"I think she was with her dad... I could see he was distressed, she didn’t come round at all.

"Not long before I was due to go, which was a good few hours after, she was called into the triage and they took one look at her and said ‘How long has she been like this?’ and panicked. I could see they were panicked."

Shook by the experience, Mrs O’Brian, a former nurse at the Heath Hospital, is pleading with the government to take urgent action.

She said: "I can't believe our NHS has gone so bad... I've never known it as bad as it is today.

"We’ve had to travel all the way from Caerphilly to Cwmbran. It doesn’t make sense to me... Something needs to be done urgently, people are dying."

Mrs O'Brien was sat at A&E for four hours after a fish bone was caught in her throat. She had been told to go to hospital after seeking advice from her GP.

But after a delay in being seen, the former nurse managed to remove the lodged bone herself.

Her experience comes at a time where the NHS in Wales has faced extreme pressure due to the backlog of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Mrs O’Brien says she counted 13 ambulances waiting outside ready to bring patients into the hospital.

Jason Killens, Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “Ambulance delays are a symptom of the pressures across the entire health and social care system.

“For the time being, having the military back on board will bolster our capacity and put us in the best possible position to provide the safest possible service to the people of Wales while we urgently explore more sustainable options, accepting the circumstances are unlikely to improve immediately.''

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board says it's experiencing "unprecedented demand" which is far beyond the demand experienced before the pandemic.

A spokesman said: "As well as nationwide staff shortages, the Covid-19 pandemic and its knock-on effects, including staff sickness and isolation, have also caused further significant strain on our services- as is the case in other areas of Wales and the UK.

"Unfortunately, this has meant that we can’t operate as efficiently as we’d like and that patients are waiting longer to receive care in the Emergency Department than we would want.

"We continue to work with our colleagues in the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to ensure the timely transfer of patients into our care, and to release ambulance crews as efficiently as possible to enable them to respond to emergency calls in our communities.

"We are continuing to ask people to think very carefully before they attend the Emergency Department at The Grange University Hospital – this facility is designed to treat the most severely unwell and injured patients for conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, and very severe injuries."