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A heart attack survivor had to wait days for a vital test after being rushed to hospital when he fell ill at home. 

Philip Churchill was relaxing at his home in Bassaleg, Newport, when he broke out in sweat and pain, prompting his son to call for an ambulance. 

He was then taken to the Grange Hospital, Cwmbran but despite “fantastic” care from nurses he hadn’t had an angiogram test that could help doctors decide on a course of treatment after four days in hospital. 

The 61-year-old, who had a quadruple heart bypass operation in 2015, said he was in fear as doctors told him in the early hours of Sunday, two days after he was taken to hospital, blood tests had shown he’d suffered a further heart attack while on a trolley. 

“I’m absolutely frightened to death as I’d not felt the heart attack on either Saturday or Sunday and worried I could just drop,” said Mr Churchill. 

While in hospital he was told medics were unable to perform the angiogram as he hadn’t been found a bed on the cardiology ward: “There is no room on the cardiology ward. 

“Until the angiogram is done nothing can move forward,” said Mr Churchill: “I’ve raised it with the nurses every shift but all they’ve said is they are waiting for a bed.” 

A lack of beds meant the patient remained on a trolley since he was taken to the hospital shortly after 7pm on Thursday, August 8 with a bed only found for him at around 3am on Monday morning, though that wasn’t on the caridology ward. 

“The nursing staff are fantastic, they are absolutely brilliant and look after you to the very best of their abilities but the point I’m making is the place isn’t working,” said Mr Churchill of his experience of the 450-bed, £358 million critical care hospital that opened in 2020. 

It has been beset by problems around waiting times at its emergency department and capacity issues as it was only intended to treat patients transferred by ambulance, or sent by other medical professionals, with Gwent’s Aneurin Bevan University Health Board never imagining patients would attend themselves. 

When Mr Churchill arrived he said he was seen in a “decontamination” shower room as there was nowhere else for him to be assessed and said on Monday, August 12 up to 16 ambulances were waiting with patients on board with no capacity to see them in the hospital. 

He said: “I was on a trolley, from the ambulance, and I’m not sure where I should have been seen but it isn’t a shower room but that’s a minor problem, and something we can all put up with. 

“But not having treatment for a major problem four days later, and being on a trolley for four days and they keep putting you off.” 

He added: “I’m now bed blocking, had I been dealt with I maybe could have been home by now. I thought if I make a complaint it perhaps might not happen to someone else.” 

A spokesperson for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: “We’re very sorry that Mr Churchill is unhappy with his current care at the Grange University Hospital. 

“We cannot discuss an individual’s care but can confirm that we have spoken with Mr Churchill and his medical team to discuss his concerns, and his treatment and investigations are being progressed. 

“All of our teams are working to reduce the delays within the Emergency Department and Assessment Units to ensure patients are transferred to the appropriate areas as quickly as possible.”