HEALTH bosses have apologised to a terminally ill housebound woman who was left waiting for over 11 hours to see a doctor.

The patient's daughter phoned NHS 24 at 9.30am on the morning of Saturday April 6 after her mum, who has throat cancer, took unwell at home.

But she says a GP did not come out to see her mum until just before 9pm that night.

The woman's daughter said the GP had travelled from West Dunbartonshire, over 23 miles away, because there was no out-of-hour doctor covering Inverclyde.

Health board bosses say they are sorry, admitting that the woman had endured an 'unacceptably long wait' due to a shortage of GPs.

But her daughter fears it could happen again if out-of-hours cover in Inverclyde is not sorted out.

The woman, who did not want to be named to protect her mum, said: "My mum is terminally ill and she had to wait over 11 hours for a GP as there was not one doctor in Inverclyde and they had to get a GP from Alexandria.

"It's really concerning that somebody in that position can't see a doctor for over 11 hours.

"There is clearly a major problem.

"My mum can't eat or drink and has a feeding tube which goes into her stomach.

"I had to phone NHS 24 back three times.

"When a doctor did turn up, he didn't have the medication required and had to crush up pills and asked me to inject it because he was in a hurry.

"It was shocking."

The woman said it turned out her mum had developed an infection as a result of the feeding tube.

She added: "I'm worried that this will happen again so I want to highlight it - I feel so strongly about it.

"It's shocking to think there was no out of hours GPs when you think of the size of Inverclyde."

After the Tele contacted NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, they issued an apology.

A spokeswoman said: "We are very sorry to hear of this patient’s experience and would like to apologise to her for her unacceptably long wait.

"We provide services across both primary care emergency centres and home visiting and due to the shortage of GPs we did take longer than we would wish to visit patients in their homes on this Saturday.

"To ensure safety, patients who call NHS24 requesting a home visit are categorised by their urgency, and are given advice on what to do should their condition change.

"It should also be remembered that the out of hours GP system is not for emergencies and those in need of urgent care should attend one of our emergency departments or dial 999.

"We would be more than happy to meet with this lady to discuss her concerns if she contacts us directly."

This is just the latest in a string of episodes the Tele has covered in relation to the GP out-of-hours service in Inverclyde, which runs from Greenock Health Centre and then Inverclyde Royal Hospital after midnight at the weekends.

Last week we highlighted how residents in Inverclyde were left without any out-of-hours GPs on the weekend of March 30 and 31.

It meant patients were forced to travel to a centre in Paisley instead.