A FRAIL 79-year-old woman had to wait SEVEN HOURS on a hospital trolley and a wheelchair before she was found a bed, her family claimed today. Pensioner Kathleen Simpson collapsed at her warden-controlled bungalow in Baber Walk, Astley Bridge, on Wednesday evening. Paramedics took her to the casualty department of the Royal Bolton Hospital, where she was admitted at about 6.30pm.

But her furious son says Mrs Simpson then had to wait a staggering seven hours before a bed was found for her.

Today George Simpson, of Ainsworth Hall Road, Ainsworth, claims that after an initial assessment, it was two-and-a-half hours before his mother was seen by a doctor.

She was diagnosed as having a water infection and high temperature and medics decided to put her on an intravenous drip of antibiotics.

But it was a further four-and-a-half hours before a bed was found for her in the hospital's Medical Assessment Unit.

And Mr Simpson claims that when his mum was finally taken to the unit there were already four beds empty.

He fumed: "I'm not angry with the hospital front-line staff or the paramedics who helped her. They were all brilliant. But there seems to me to be something clearly wrong with the system. "By the end of it all my mother wanted to do was to go to sleep. The problem was that there were no beds but when we went into the medical assessment at 1.30 I reckon there were at least four beds empty so I want to know why there was such a wait.

"It's a joke to say that patients are assessed within 15 minutes. What should be measured is how long it takes to go in, get treated and come out."

While Mrs Simpson was kept on a trolley in a cubicle, her son claims other patients had to wait on trolleys in the corridor.

He added: "She had to alternate between the trolley and the wheelchair. Those trolleys aren't the most comfortable things so when she began to ache she was put in a wheelchair."

The pensioner has now been transferred from the assessment unit to a hospital ward for further treatment. Mr Simpson says he will detail his complaints in a letter to the hospital trust's chief executive John Brunt. A spokesman for Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust said that patients are assessed and those with the most urgent need are treated first.

The spokesman added: "Unfortunately at busy times this may mean a wait for some people.

"The Medical Assessment Unit assesses as well as looks after patients, many of whom are very ill. Some patients will have been seen first in A and E and some are admitted directly to the unit. The nursing staff can only deal with a number of admissions at any one time and again there are occasional delays.

"We appreciate that it can be distressing for patients and their families if they have to wait but they are seen and beds found for them as quickly as possible.

"If this lady or her family would like to contact us directly we will be happy to discuss their concerns with them."

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