A GRANDAD waited a shocking 18 hours for heart attack treatment as an expert warns NHS managers’ obsession with budgets and targets endangers patients. Glynn Evans, 76, suffered chest pain on a family holiday to Cornwall in April 2022. Wife Lyn phoned 999 at 8pm but an ambulance did not arrive until the next morning and a queue outside the hospital meant he was not seen in A&E until 2pm.
Retired teacher, Glynn, from Bourne, Lincolnshire, survived but now has heart failure. He said: “The doctor who treated me was furious that I had to wait so long. “I’m not sure my heart failure would be quite as bad if it hadn’t taken so long to treat me.
“There’s nothing that anyone can do about it now but I don’t want anyone else to have to wait that long and miss out on the best treatment.” We’re in the worst heart care crisis this country has ever faced Glynn is now backing the British Heart Foundation’s campaign for ministers to commit to fix a crisis in heart disease care. Delays to emergency treatment raise the risk of disability and death and ambulance response times have been off target for years.
In addition the waiting list for planned heart treatment has doubled in the past four years to nearly 420,000 people, the BHF said. CEO Dr Charmaine Griffiths said: “Glynn’s story makes it clear that we’re in the worst heart care crisis the country has ever faced. “Long waits for heart care put lives on the line.
” A spokesperson for the Cornwall and Isles of .
