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A pensioner with a heart defect claims he was told to ‘go to hospital immediately’, then left waiting on an ambulance for two days before languishing in the back of one for nearly 12 hours before he was finally seen. William McLaughlin, 75, was warned he needed urgent care by doctors after a blood test uncovered he had high potassium levels – a condition which can have serious consequences. But the Lanarkshire OAP said despite calling 999 as instructed he was left waiting two days for an ambulance, and when he finally got to University Hospital Wishaw he languished in the back of one for 11-and-a-half hours. Left furious by the ordeal which he said could have seen him die ‘several times over’, he warned Scotland’s NHS crisis could end up with disastrous consequences for patients. Turning his ire on the Scottish Government and senior NHS managers, Mr McLaughlin, who has a number of disabilites, yesterday said: Neil Gray [Health Secretary] should resign forthwith and let somebody else in that can do the job because this isn’t working. ‘People are suffering and somebody is going to die – it is only a matter of time before somebody dies because of this.’ Despite his fury at those running the NHS he praised the staff who looked after him – including the paramedics who cared for him at the back of their vehicle. Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesman, said: ‘It’s outrageous. This kind of intolerable experience has sadly become a regular occurrence because of the SNP’s chronic mismanagement of Scotland’s NHS.’ Mr McLaughlin was discharged from hospital yesterday, with medics to conduct further tests at a later date. But he said this week’s ordeal was his latest experience of a health service teetering on the brink and added: ‘I am not criticising the ambulance crews, the nurses or the doctors. They are doing a stellar job in very difficult circumstances which is not of their making. ‘I am criticising the politicians and the senior management who are responsible for NHS Scotland. They treat all of us with utter disdain and people suffer as a result. ‘We are now beyond meltdown and have descended into utter chaos. The system is no longer fit for purpose.’ Mr McLaughlin added: ‘It is an absolute mess, I could have died several times over. The shambles that is going on has to be exposed, I know I’m not the only one experiencing it.’ Stephen Peebles, NHS Lanarkshire’s Interim Director of Acute Services, said: ‘We understand how distressing this must have been and we extend our sincere apologies to Mr McLaughlin and his family.’ A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are supporting the Scottish Ambulance Service and boards to cut waits and ensure patients receive treatment as soon as possible.’ A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We would like to apologise for the delay in responding to Mr McLaughlin and for any distress caused. 'While we are limited in what we can say due to patient confidentiality, we can confirm there was an extended delay in transporting Mr McLaughlin to hospital. ‘During this delay, our clinicians remained in contact with Mr McLaughlin to support him and ensure his condition hadn’t worsened. 'When a time is appropriate, we would ask the patient or his family to contact our patient experience team so we can look into this case further.’
