Scots photographer spent 36 hours in A&E in agony after developing back problem
dailyrecord.co.ukEarlier today the Sunday Mail revealed that forty people are dying every week as a direct result of Scotland’s A&E crisis. The massive rise is down to a record number of patients being forced to wait over eight hours for care, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Dave Johnston, 55, from Edinburgh, spent 36 hours in A&E in agony after developing a back problem on December 28.
Here, the photographer describes how he saw an NHS stretched to its limit. I started getting a twinge in my back three days after Christmas but within hours I couldn’t move and it hurt to breathe.
I called 111 around 6.15pm and the operator said they would send a one-hour ambulance.That night was a sleepless one for me and my wife Anne.
We received a further eight calls, all saying an ambulance was still being located, before one finally arrived at 10am. Medics at St John’s A&E in Livingston saw me quickly but were worried I could have a pinched nerve at the base of my spine – which can lead to paralysis.I was scared but reassured when they said an urgent MRI scan was booked at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary and I was blue-lighted there.
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