DELAYS at the Grange Hospital are in the headlines again as a heart attack survivor says he had to wait days for a vital test after being rushed to hospital when he fell ill at home. 

Philip Churchill was relaxing at his home in Bassaleg, Newport, when he broke out in sweat and pain, prompting his son to call for an ambulance. 

He was then taken to The Grange Hospital, Cwmbran but despite “fantastic” care from nurses he hadn’t had an angiogram test that could help doctors decide on a course of treatment after four days in hospital. 

The 61-year-old, who had a quadruple heart by-pass operation in 2015, said he was in fear as doctors told him in the early hours of Sunday, two days after he was taken to hospital, blood tests had shown he’d suffered a further heart attack while on a trolley. 

While in hospital he was told medics were unable to perform the angiogram as he hadn’t been found a bed on the cardiology ward

A lack of beds meant he remained on a trolley from being taken to the hospital shortly after 7pm on Thursday, August 8 until around 3am on Monday morning, when a bed was found - though it was not on the cardiology ward. 

“The nursing staff are fantastic, they are absolutely brilliant and look after you to the very best of their abilities but the place isn’t working,” said Mr Churchill, adding that on Monday, August 12 up to 16 ambulances were waiting with patients on board with no capacity to see them in the hospital. 

A spokesperson for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: “We’re very sorry that Mr Churchill is unhappy with his current care at the Grange University Hospital. 

“We cannot discuss an individual’s care but can confirm that we have spoken with Mr Churchill and his medical team to discuss his concerns, and his treatment and investigations are being progressed. 

“All of our teams are working to reduce the delays within the Emergency Department and Assessment Units to ensure patients are transferred to the appropriate areas as quickly as possible.”