A woman who collapsed with a suspected heart attack says she was forced to wait for five hours in the back of an ambulance before being seen at A&E.
Roseanna Clarkin, 39, feared she would go into cardiac arrest after suffering chest pain and being unable to breathe at her home in Dunbartonshire, Scotland on Monday morning.
She was rushed to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, but became stuck in a queue of ambulances outside.
Roseanna, who has a history of heart problems, told the Daily Record : "We couldn’t even get parked near A&E because there were another 16 ambulances waiting there with patients already."
She is still recovering at home after discovering a couple of days later that the cause of her pain was due to Covid.
Recalling arriving at hospital, Roseanna said: "We were told there would be a three or four-hour wait.
“The paramedics gave me an aspirin and paracetamol but there was nothing else they could do.
"I was concerned because I’d read about two patients dying from heart attacks while waiting to be seen in A&E.
“I wasn’t just concerned for myself but for everyone in the ambulances waiting outside and for those waiting at home who may die prematurely as they couldn’t get an ambulance because they were stuck at hospital with us.
“The crew told me they are sometimes stuck outside hospitals for eight hours.
“It felt as if the ambulance drivers were just being used to babysit us. I knew that if I was to have a heart attack in the back of the ambulance it was not a great situation. How can the health service in Scotland have got into this state?
“If it is as bad as this in October, how will the NHS function when winter arrives?”
She believes the wait would have been shorter if bloods were taken from patients sitting in ambulances.
Roseanna said: “When I got inside I had blood tests then got sent for an X-ray. I had the results within an hour which showed I hadn’t had a heart attack and was discharged.
“But if they had taken bloods when I was sitting waiting in the ambulance it could have freed the crew up four hours earlier.
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“People are dying because ambulances are not getting to them quickly enough."
Last night, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "The NHS in Scotland is on its knees and we aren't even in winter yet."
She added: "It’s about time decisive action is taken or lives will be lost.”
It comes after a pensioner was left lying in a cold street for nine hours while waiting for an ambulance in Cornwall after falling over and breaking her hip last week.
Mary Kinsella, 72, was left waiting for a further 24 hours outside hospital because all the beds were occupied.
Another pensioner, Emma Hardy, also told of being forced to lie on a runway at Newquay Airport in a 13-hour wait for an ambulance.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde apologised to Roseanna for the five-hour delay.
A spokesperson said: "We are saddened to hear that Ms Clarkin was unhappy with her experience and would like to apologise for any distress this caused."