AN ELDERLY woman who had suffered a broken neck waited 18 hours in a corridor at Wrexham Maelor Hospital's Emergency Department. Yvonne Jones, from Pantymwyn, near Mold, had suffered a double neck break after falling in the garden. The 82-year-old's daughter, Michelle Bradford, from Holyhead, took her to Maelor Hospital Emergency Department (ED) following the incident on Wednesday, June 5.
“When we arrived at 9.30pm, it was Armageddon in there,” Mrs Bradford said. “It was horrific – more than 100 people were waiting in A&E.
” Mrs Bradford claims her mum was only given a couple of pain-relief tablets in the 11 hours she spent in ED before being sent for a CT scan. Having seen a triage nurse after 90 minutes, she says Mrs Jones was told at 11.25pm she faced a nine-hour wait to see a doctor.
Mrs Bradford said another elderly lady with broken ribs was on a stretcher nearby, and more arrived over the course of the night. “Mum was in agony, any slight movement caused her significant pain," Mrs Bradford said. "She was desperate to go to the toilet, worried she would wet herself, but there was no help.
"A homeless woman on a drip was shouting to go to the loo. All the while there was a constant stream of people going past in the narrow corridor. “It was hell on earth.
What got me was seeing five police officers bringing in a young man with a cut head. As the officers waited outside, he was treated while an 82-year-old woman lay in a corridor with a broken neck. “A woma.