‘The longest day of my life’: Kintyre heart attack patient left stranded in hospital bed-blocking ‘nightmare’

Mrs Williams was rushed by ambulance to Glasgow on Thursday January 8 after suffering a heart attack. On the morning of Monday January 12, doctors declared her fit for discharge, so she packed her bags, dressed and waited – but ended up waiting all day.

“It was a nightmare,” said Mrs Williams. “I sat in my room, and I didn’t see anyone. Staff were going past and I was asking if anyone knew what was happening, and nobody knew. 

“It was a grey room with no view – it seemed the longest day of my life because nothing was happening.”

As the hours ticked by with very little information, the stress took a toll on Mrs Williams. 

“In hospital, I don’t know how many times I cried,” she said. “When they told me there was no sign of an ambulance, I said, ‘I just want to go home!’ I cried more that day than I’ve cried in years.”

Eventually, at 10pm, staff admitted defeat, and Mrs Williams spent the night in her hospital bed fully dressed, unable to face the physical struggle of changing twice, until a taxi, funded by patient transport services, arrived the following morning.

For Mr Williams, aged 85, the frustration was compounded by the knowledge that his wife was occupying a bed that was likely needed for another patient.

“Not getting Enid home on Monday just blocked a bed for the night,” he said. “I think the main problem is bed-blocking, which is caused by social care not being able to take people out of hospital.”

Mr Williams has his own experiences relating to patient transport. When he was treated for Covid and pneumonia in Glasgow in October 2024, he was told he could be discharged on a Friday but that no transport was available until the following Wednesday. 

He was only able to return home that day because his daughter, who had travelled from Newcastle to support Mrs Williams, drove from Muasdale to collect him.

Despite their ordeal, Mr and Mrs Williams remain staunch defenders of the NHS workers. 

“The medical staff are wonderful – they’ve kept us alive all this time,” said Mr Williams. “We have no complaints about the NHS or the Scottish Government running it. At the end of the day, the problem is a lack of money for social care.”

However, like the Abendroths, Mr and Mrs Williams claim they were never offered a formal Patient Needs Assessment or told about the Health Cost Reclaim Scheme – services the Scottish Ambulance Service claims are routinely provided.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service told the Courier: “We can confirm we received a request to transport Mrs Williams after her hospital stay but given it was made on the same day and involved an extended out-of-area journey, we were unable to fulfil it at short notice.

“We work closely with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and normally operate a day-before booking system for non-emergency transfers but will always do our best to try to action requests such as Mrs Williams.

“We apologise we were unable to provide transport on this occasion and hope she is recovering well after her hospital stay.”

The Courier also contacted NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for comment regarding the delays and the impact on bed capacity, but did not receive a response before our deadline.

For Mrs Williams, who turned 87 just days after returning home, the relief of being back in Kintyre is tempered by the transport delay.

“The staff were superb and the ambulance service worker was so apologetic,” she said, “but when you are ready to go and you’re just sat there... it’s a very long time to wait.”