A GRANDFATHER waited a shocking 18 hours for heart attack treatment as an expert warns that NHS managers’ obsession with budgets and targets puts patients in danger.
Glynn Evans, 76, suffered chest pains during a family holiday in Cornwall in April 2022.
Wife Lyn called 999 at 8pm, but an ambulance didn’t arrive until the following morning and a queue outside the hospital meant he wasn’t 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 waited so long.
“I’m not sure my heart failure would be as severe if it hadn’t taken so long to treat me.
“There’s nothing anyone can do about it right now, but I don’t want anyone to have to wait that long and miss out on the best treatment.”
We are in the worst heart care crisis this country has ever faced
Dr Charmaine Griffiths
Glynn is now supporting the British Heart Foundation’s campaign for ministers to commit to solving a crisis in the treatment of heart disease.
Delays in emergency treatment increase the risk of disability and death and ambulance response times have been off target for years.
Furthermore, the waiting list for planned heart treatment has doubled in the last four years to almost 420,000 people, the BHF said.
CEO Dr Charmaine Griffiths said: “Glynn’s story makes clear that we are in the worst cardiac care crisis the country has ever faced.
“Long waits for cardiac care put lives at risk.”
A spokesperson for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly NHS Board said: “We regret that we were unable to provide Mr Evans with a timely response in 2022.
“Any time the care we provide falls below the high standards our patients deserve and rightly expect is unacceptable.
“Our response times have recovered to a more stable position compared to 2022, but there is still more to do.”
NHS managers ‘focus on money not security’
It comes as England’s patient safety commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes, has criticized NHS management for being too focused on pinching pennies and hitting targets.
Old GP and NHS medical director Dr Hughes said patient safety takes a backseat to corporate demands.
She told the British Medical Journal that many people are “deceived, dismissed and deceived” when things go wrong.
Dr Hughes said: “The NHS’s relentless focus on funding and productivity is failing patient safety.
“This shows a very dismissive, old-fashioned and paternalistic attitude towards patients who have identified problems and need their voices to be heard.”
BOSSES ‘LOOK AT GOALS AND BUDGETS, NOT PATIENTS’
Dr Henrietta Hughes has been appointed as England’s first independent patient safety commissioner in 2022.
She now says health service management is ignoring improvements in patient safety in favor of a focus on budgets and performance targets.
Dr Hughes was appointed following a series of scandals, including birth defects caused by medication and maternity ward failures.
She told the British Medical Journal that victims were often portrayed as “difficult women” and had their concerns downplayed.
Dr Hughes said: “This shows a very dismissive and old-fashioned and paternalistic attitude towards patients who have identified problems and need their voices to be heard.
“The relentless focus on productivity, finances and performance is really missing a huge opportunity to start with patients and start with safety.”
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