by Rob Pattinson, Evening Chronicle
FRAGILE pensioner Wynne Peacock was left stranded and alone in a hospital waiting room for 13 hours. The 74-year-old understood there might be a wait before her sensitive check-up when she arrived at Gatesheads Queen Elizabeth Hospitals at 9am. But the tearful pensioner was not shown to a bed until 10.30 that night. Mrs Peacock was made to wait for so long she changed into her nightdress then went back to sitting in the empty waiting room. She said: I would have been happy to wait for three or four hours, but not for 13. I was devastated. When I got home I just cried. It shouldnt be allowed to happen.
The ordeal was made worse for the agoraphobia-suffer, who never felt she had the strength to make it outside to catch a bus home.
And diabetes made the struggle through the day without food almost unbearable.
Now, still shaken by the experience, Mrs Peacock has filed a complaint against the Procedure Investigations Unit where she was made to wait.
*Click here to red the full article: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-evening-chronicle/2008/11/03/diabetic-oap-forced-to-wait-13-hours-for-a-bed-72703-22172215/
