The Welsh Ambulance Service has apologised to a couple from Cardiff after they endured a 17-hour wait at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr for an ambulance.
Stavros Lazarou, from Cardiff, told WalesOnline he took his wife Stavroulla, 70, to the hospital near Ystrad Mynach after they were involved in a car accident on Monday, July 31 while visiting their son.
They were told they had to wait for an ambulance transfer to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport for Mrs Lazarou to be treated.
But Mr Lazarou said his wife had to wait 17 hours to be moved. He eventually lost hope and drove his wife to University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.
Andrea Evans, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Locality Manager in the Aneurin Bevan Health Board area, said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to Mrs Lazarou and her husband for their wait, as this is absolutely not the experience we aim to provide for our patients.
“We understand how distressing and uncomfortable this delay must have been and, while on the night in question we experienced significant challenges, both in terms of the number of calls we received and delays in handing over patients at hospitals, we are currently reviewing this case to see exactly what happened and why Mrs Lazarou experienced such a long wait.”
Apologies are insufficient. It is ridiculous that we can’t just use a proper hospital (UHW Heath) instead of being played around with at Ysbytyr Ystrad Fawr Clinic.
Surely we should just merge the Health boards? This clinic has been a bit of a white elephant vanity project from day one. This Manager person needs to be considering a different career if this is the best she can do.