A HEART attack survivor has raised concerns over hospital services after she was rushed to A&E with chest pains and was then left waiting 11 hours for a bed to become available.

Mary Butler, of Mirehouse, Whitehaven, was diagnosed with unstable angina in October, after suffering a heart attack nearly two years ago.

The 63-year-old had experienced chest pains over the last few weeks and on Thursday, the pain became so intense, she decided she needed to go to hospital.

Ms Butler made the decision to head straight to A&E in Carlisle. She had been taken to the West Cumberland Hospital when she suffered the heart attack in 2021 and had to wait several days for a bed to become available at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

She said: “I thought, there’s no point going to Whitehaven, they can’t treat me there. My friend took me to A&E. I was triaged and had an ECG fairly quickly after that. They told me to have a seat back in the waiting room.”

Over three hours later, she was seen by a “lovely doctor”, who said she would need to be admitted for monitoring and would need an angiogram.

Ms Butler was later called back into A&E and given blood thinning tablets and an injection in her leg. She was informed there were currently no beds and was told to sit back in the waiting room in A&E.

She said at around 10pm, she was told there were no beds, and made the decision to discharge herself.

Ms Butler said: “If I was in Carlisle and I couldn’t get a bed, I’ve no chance in Whitehaven. I could have sat there all night.

"Now I’m back home. I’ve still got chest pains. I’m going to try and get in to see my doctor. I’m just left to my own devices.”

Ms Butler had been referred to see a cardiologist when she was diagnosed with unstable angina in October, but is yet to receive an appointment.

She is now taking the maximum strength tablets for her condition.

Ms Butler said: “We are no more than a glorified cottage hospital up this hill. A £40million cottage hospital. If they are expecting everybody from the area to travel to Carlisle, beds will be filled. How are they going to treat all these people?

“It’s awful. I’m just one person. How many more people are going through this? It’s people’s lives they are not taking into consideration.”

Edwin Dinsdale, deputy mayor of Whitehaven, is leading a campaign for changes to coronary and stroke care at West Cumberland Hospital.

He said: “I think it’s totally unacceptable. Mary is just one of many stories out there. Hopefully, we can address that going forward. We have got a mandate now from the town and parish councils.

“We are looking to make contact with the health authority and look at what we did have and what we’ve got now.”

Mahesh Dhebar, a retired consultant and hospital campaigner, said: “Mary Butler discharged herself because there was no bed. Carlisle Hospital is not equipped to deal with all emergencies from the whole of north west Cumbria. It was built to cater for East Cumbria.  

“Unless management transfer some emergency care back to West Cumberland Hospital, this will be a frequent occurrence and patients will continue to suffer.”

A spokesperson for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are sorry about the long waits that this patient and others are seeing at the moment in our A&E departments.

“While we cannot comment on individual cases, the average wait time for cardiology at our Trust is 18 weeks. We advise this patient to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison team who can look into her case specifically and address any delays she is experiencing in the cardiology department. 

“We have a fully functional A&E department at WCH. We would always recommend that patients with chest pain attend the A&E closest to them.

“A&E departments have been exceptionally busy and the increase in waiting times in north Cumbria is in line with the experience in other Trusts across the country.

“One of the main issues for this is that currently our patient admissions are higher than our patient discharges. This means that patients are waiting longer than we would like to be admitted. The safety of our patients is our highest priority.

“Patients waiting for admission wait in our A&E departments so we can continue to monitor them while they wait for a bed. We do not recommend self-discharge. We would always encourage anyone experiencing chest pain to seek medical advice by going to 111.nhs.uk.”