‘It was frankly terrifying’ – One woman’s shock at what she saw at York Hospital A&E

A woman has told of her ‘absolute shock’ at the scenes that greeted her on a trip to York Hospital’s emergency department.

TV producer and journalist Wendy Homewood said she was told that more than 40 people were waiting to be admitted – but the hospital was ‘full and had no beds’.

And yet more and more sick people kept arriving as the wait times increased.

Her experience had left her with no faith that people who are seriously ill are ‘going to be treated in time’.

But she had nothing but admiration for the frontline staff who were working so hard to treat everybody in impossible conditions.

Wendy fell ill on Friday with severe stomach pains. She did what the health service is urging people to do – and rang the NHS 111 line.

After describing her symptoms and going through a checklist, she was told to get herself to hospital within the hour.

She arrived at the emergency department at York Hospital, which is now being housed in temporary accommodation while the facilities are upgraded.

After giving her details she waited for the best part of three hours to have a blood test and have her blood pressure checked, before she began her next long wait to see a doctor.

‘We have no beds’

She was taken through to another waiting room by a member of staff who told her: “There are 42 people currently who are waiting for admission to the hospital.

“But we have no beds. The hospital is full.”

Wendy described what she saw: “There were people on drips, there were people on oxygen. There were people who’d obviously just been brought by ambulance crews.

“Everyone’s sitting on plastic chairs. Some people had been there for hours and hours and hours.”

After another long wait, she was told it would be at least five hours before she saw a doctor – nine hours after she arrived. A nurse told her “that’s nothing – it was 13 hours yesterday”.

Feeling very poorly and needing to lie down, Wendy decided to go home. “As I was leaving the hospital, I could see elderly patients in beds in corridors, I could see people sitting waiting all over the place…

“The overwhelming feeling for me was absolute shock.”

She “knew it was bad” on the NHS frontline from the news headlines and from friends’ experiences.

“But to actually witness it for myself was frankly terrifying. Absolutely terrifying,” she told YorkMix.

“I don’t have any faith that if you are seriously ill, or you have a bad accident, that you’re necessarily going to be treated in time.”

Wendy said she “absolutely feels” for the staff dealing with the nightmare who were “doing their absolute best”.

“I feel like the NHS is broken,” Wendy said. As for her own illness, she won’t know what is wrong with her until she gets her test results back.

Meanwhile another North Yorkshire woman told us her grandfather was stuck in an ambulance for “more than six hours unable to even get into York A&E just before Christmas.

“An ambulance taken off the road for half of its shift. There was nowhere to take him, no bed, staff stretched so thin it is dangerous to them and us.

“Every person that cared for him did so amazingly, these people should be treasured, rewarded for their care and dedication.”

‘Worst pressures in our history’

A spokesperson for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said they couldn’t comment on Wendy’s specific experience, but added: “We’re sorry to hear about this patient’s experience and we would urge them to get in touch if they would like to discuss it further.”

They also said: “Like hospitals across the country, our emergency departments are under severe strain and in the last couple of days we have experienced the worst pressures on emergency services in our history.

“Increased staff absence and high numbers of patients waiting to be discharged who no longer need to be in hospital has had an impact on our emergency departments, resulting in patients waiting much longer for beds to become available.

“We recognise this means many patients will spend a long time in the emergency department before they are admitted to a ward, and we are sorry for this. 

“Our staff are working exceptionally hard in the most difficult of circumstances.”