A DAUGHTER has spoken out about the "heartbreaking" conditions at Arrowe Park after her father was made to wait on a trolley in a corridor for four hours.

At 4pm on Wednesday (August 30) the woman from Bromborough, who wished to remain anonymous, travelled with her 67-year-old father in an ambulance to Arrowe Park Hospital after he suffered a suspected stroke.

As the man had suffered several strokes in the past, the symptoms were known to the family.

When they arrived at the hospital, there were no beds available in the wards so he was on a trolly in one of the corridors for four hours. 

As two paramedics must wait with their patients until they are taken to a bed, the woman described how there were around eight patients in the corridor with her father all waiting for a bed and around 16 paramedics.

She said: "Doctors were taking blood tests in the corridor. 

"It just really triggered me. This is just not what you expect in August in a hospital so what is it going to be like in winter?

"The nurses were running from one part to the other and one told me she hadn't had a break yet during her 8-8 shift."

'My heart hurts'

The father was on a trolley outside the Resus Ward. 

"A family came out into a sea of people and they were grieving the loss of one of their loved ones", the woman said.

"They came out and were greeted by me and other families.

"My heart hurts for that family whoever they are it was like walking out onto a stage – and they were crying."

At 8pm, the woman's father was finally moved to the Majors Ward but there still wasn't a bed for him.

The woman added: "I questioned the doctors and asked what would happen if he didn’t have a bed.

"My dad wanted to go home, he was still on the trolley, he was uncomfortable and his pad hadn't been changed all day.

"I asked if we could take him home and the doctor said if he feels he would be better cared for at home he can go home, which just blew my mind."

The woman was informed that the discharge lounge was finished for the day so they couldn't get her father home so he would have to stay in overnight. 

She travelled back to her father's home, picked up his zimmerframe and wheelchair, and returned to Arrowe Park, where her, her father and her mother, got a black cab home at around 10pm.

"Anything that Arrowe Park would’ve done we could’ve done", she said.

Chief Nurse responds...

Tracy Fennell, Chief Nurse at Wirral University Teaching Hospital, said: "We are sorry to hear about this patient and family’s experience. The family has not raised this with us directly so we would encourage them to contact us, to enable us to undertake a review of their experience on the day.

"The welfare and experience of our all our patients, their families and carers, and our staff, is of the utmost importance to us.

"The Emergency Department at Arrowe Park Hospital is currently extremely busy, and this is mirroring the picture at NHS hospitals across the country.

"We would like to thank our staff, who are working extremely hard to care for patients coming into the Emergency Department. For patients, we are here for you if you need us in a genuine emergency, but please help us to help you by using NHS 111 online, your GP or pharmacy if you are able to."