A man in his late eighties was left to wait for 34 hours before he was seen to at a hospital in Wales.

The war veteran took himself to his local accident and emergency department after he was unable to get an appointment at his GP’s surgery, having been told he would have to wait five days until there was a slot available.

He waited five hours for an ambulance to arrive and then waited in the hospital’s A & E department for two hours before being put back in the ambulance on a trolley where he had to wait for 34 hours until a bed became available.

No Treatment Given Or Tests Done While Waiting

Relatives say that he has not been able to recognise his friends and family. His granddaughter commented: “It was only after an old friend, who is a retired heart surgeon, saw him and said he needed to go to hospital that anything happened. He was taken inside in the first two hours to be assessed, but he was then taken back out to the ambulance.”

While he was waiting on the trolley for 34 hours he did not have any tests done or receive any treatment but he was given paracetamol, according to his granddaughter. The man is now being cared for by his family.

A spokesperson for the hospital offered apologies and stated that it was not wished for that patients spend such a long time in accident and emergency. He said: “However, the hospital was under extreme pressure and there were delays in patients being transferred to appropriate wards in a timely way.”

Hospital Under Investigation

The hospital in question is currently under investigation following the charging of five nurses with falsifying medical records and wilful neglect.