A YOUNG dad who was ‘bent double’ with chest pains says he waited nine hours in casualty at Inverclyde Royal before seeing a doctor.

Franky O’Neill, who suffers from bi-lateral blood clots in his lungs, said he went to the hospital this week when the pain he was experiencing became unbearable.

The 27-year-old arrived at midnight on Tuesday and was shocked at the number of patients already waiting.

He then had to sit until around 9am before he was seen.

Franky said: “It looked like a Saturday night when I went in, it was like a busy weekend.

“There were around 30 people waiting.”

He was initially seen by a triage nurse at 1am who ran a echocardiagram (ECG) to check his heart and then told him to sit in the waiting room.

Franky, who lives in Old Inverkip Road, added: “I sat there until 5am and asked the receptionist if I had been forgotten about and she phoned through to A&E.

“It was another four hours before I was seen.

“I was doubled over in the waiting room.

“A few times I thought I was going to pass out.

“It was as if someone was standing on my chest.”

Franky, who has three children, said he felt sorry for the under pressure staff and all the patients.

He said: “There were people waiting for 12 hours to be seen.
“It was definitely understaffed.

“This was putting pressure on the individuals who were working that night.

“There were people lying on trolleys in corridors waiting to be sent upstairs to a ward but there were no beds.

“It’s the system that’s at fault, not the staff.”

Franky was given blood tests and another ECG when he finally saw a doctor at 9am.

The tests fortunately came back clear and he finally left the hospital at 11.30am with a box of heavy duty painkillers.

Franky is taking blood-thinning drug Apixaban for his condition and has been tested for Lupus, an autoimmune disease, which may be the cause of his pain.

He said he was stunned by the lack of staff in A&E.

He said: “I felt there was one doctor treating the whole of Inverclyde.

“When the day shift came on they got the place moving again which makes me think that the nightshift was understaffed.

“I feel mentally and physically drained by what happened - I didn’t get any pain relief until eight hours after I had been in triage.

“They took bloods and did a chest X-ray then came and thankfully said everything was normal.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “Our hospitals have been very busy and frontline teams at our four emergency departments, including Inverclyde Royal Hospital (IRH) are reporting an increase in the number of patients attending for treatment.

“Staff tell us that part of this rise is due to more patients presenting with respiratory infections and norovirus.

“We accept that a number of our patients at the IRH waited longer than we would have hoped due to the high level of demand and we apologise to those patients who experienced lengthy waits.

“At this busy time we are reminding people to use their emergency services appropriately and only to use A&Es for serious injuries and major emergencies. 

“Our minor Injuries Units at Stobhill, Victoria and Vale of Leven Hospitals are the best place for the rapid treatment of minor injuries, including sprains and cuts and broken bones. 

“For minor ailments, patients should go to their pharmacy and our GP out of hours service is also fully operational.”