A WREXHAM woman has described her experience in an A+E department as something from a 'third world country'. 

Joanna Lloyd Adams was instructed by her GP to make her way to Wrexham Maelor Hospital's A+E department after experiencing heart attack symptoms; what followed was a 15 hour overnight wait on a plastic chair.

Arriving at 6pm last Wednesday (November 30), the mum of three was not seen until 9am the following morning. 

The 32-year-old said: "I was told to go there by my GP. I went for a GP appointment with chest pains, and she said given what I was telling her, I did need to go to A+E.

"Off I went to A+E at 6pm on Wednesday. I was triaged pretty quickly to be honest, it was heaving in there - absolutely heaving.

"I was still sat there on the same chair at 9am the next morning. I felt worse than when I'd started as I'd not had a single minutes sleep all night. There were no beds, so they'd call me through, I'd have an ECG but then I'd have to sit back down in the waiting room.

"They'd then call me back through again for a chest X-Ray, then I'd go back to the waiting room, then again for my bloods, and back into the waiting room, and this went on all night.

"It got to the point where there were no seats left - honestly it looked like a third world country, I'd never seen anything like it in my life."

Joanna acknowledged how hard the staff worked under the circumstances.

"I have to say, it's not the staff's fault. I don't blame the staff at all, it's just the circumstances isn't it?

"I think twice in the 15 hours I was there, they brought the tea and coffee machine over, and in the morning they came round with toast for people who had been there all night, but other than that you were left to your own devices."

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When asked what got her through her long wait, the Wrexham mum said it was the human side which came shining through as fellow patients supported each other.

"We did make friends, there were some lovely people there; an elderly couple in front of me, we kept each other company the whole time, another wanted a coffee but had no change so somebody offered to get her a coffee, there was a little girl there who was offered someone's coat. 

"It was really heart-warming and that's what got me through."

Nick Lyons, deputy chief executive and executive medical director of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “The Emergency Department at Wrexham Maelor Hospital has been extremely busy over recent weeks, resulting in much longer waiting times than we would like, despite the best efforts of our nursing and medical staff.

"I apologise to Ms Adams for the long wait she had in the Emergency Department and I would like to thank her for her kind words about our staff.

“We have recently expanded the department and we are currently in the process of increasing the department’s workforce by a total of 64 whole time equivalent staff.

"We have recruited to these roles and all new staff are expected to have started their roles soon.

“Despite this work and the continued best efforts of our nursing and medical staff, increasing demand for services and ongoing pressures on the NHS workforce will mean that the hospital’s Emergency Department will remain under significant pressure during the coming winter months.  

“We apologise that many people are waiting longer than they should to be seen and treated, but we would like to reassure the public that patients are always prioritised according to their clinical need and monitored throughout their time in our Emergency Departments.

“There also remains challenges to discharge patients from hospital to suitable accommodation or care services. This does impact flow through the entire hospital system, and on our ability to bring patients into and through the Emergency Department in a timely manner and we continue to work with our health and social care partners to improve this. 

“We would also ask the public to help us; patients who do not need full emergency hospital treatment may find that they can get appropriate advice and care from other NHS services, including GP surgeries, minor injuries units and local pharmacies. Please visit the BCUHB website or contact NHS 111 for advice if you are unsure where to go.”