A FRAIL grandmother was forced to wait almost five hours for an ambulance – then had to endure a gruelling 12 hours before being transferred to a ward.

Cathy Goldie, 85, from Carntyne, arrived at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary at about 3.30am yesterday after she became unwell on Monday. She was finally moved at 3.30pm.

The grandmother of 12, who suffers from dementia, had stopped eating and her family became concerned for her deteriorating health.

Her daughters Rita and Catherine have slammed the health service for the “shocking” delays, and said it raised concerns for patient welfare.

Speaking yesterday morning Rita, a 59-year-old classroom assistant from Clarkston, said: “We had to phone twice to find out where the ambulance was – we phoned it first at 11pm yesterday. We went in to A&E at 3.30am today and the place was mobbed. There were people who had been waiting for 15 hours in there.”

When the concerned sisters spoke to the Evening Times, their mum was still waiting on a trolley in an acute unit close to A&E, along with a number of other elderly and vulnerable people.

Rita said: “There was a woman who had a sleeping bag with her, it was absolutely freezing. My mum will have seized up when they try to get her off that trolley now because she is so cold.

“There were a lot of elderly people on these trolleys who were still there at 9am today, and had been waiting since before we arrived. There was one old woman on a trolley beside the toilets, just waiting. It was such a shame.

“There was a lady with her husband who had been sent from Stobhill at 7pm last night, and they are still waiting.”

Catherine, 54, from Clarkston, said they had little contact with medical staff and their mother had not been seen by a doctor. She said: “It’s absolutely shocking. Even the ambulance driver who came in said he had never seen anything like it, and the charge nurse said she had worked there for 20 years and had never seen it like this before. The only person we’ve seen is a nurse who actually handed us a complaint form – she told us to fill it in.

“They came round at about 7.30am with tea and coffee, but they soon ran out of milk and bread. I’m not blaming the staff, it’s the whole system. There’s no beds, nowhere to put all these poor people, it’s really worrying.”

Rita said she had seen patients left for hours alone as staff struggled to visit everyone who was waiting.

An NHS spokeswoman said: “This patient arrived at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary accident and emergency department (A&E) at 4.10 am having been referred by NHS 24. She was taken direct to the acute assessment unit (AAC) and was very quickly triaged by nursing staff.

“The patient was sent for diagnostic tests and then seen by a consultant in acute medicine at 9am. The patient has a fully implemented management plan in place and will be transferred to a ward area as soon as possible.

“The acute assessment unit is not A&E. It is a dedicated bedded area which is fully staffed and fully equipped to provide assessment and if appropriate patients can remain in the unit overnight.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “At 23.03 a doctor requested a non-emergency ambulance transfer for the patient to be taken to hospital within two hours.

“Unfortunately there was exceptional emergency 999 demand in Glasgow on Monday night and the transfer was not undertaken until 03.18.

“We are sorry for any anxiety and discomfort caused by the delay.”

As reported in the Evening Times, Labour has called for the SNP to match its promise of a £100 million cash boost for the NHS.

Speaking during First Minister’s questions, Labour’s deputy leader Kezia Dugdale criticised Nicola Sturgeon’s “complacency” over the NHS and called for more cash for a front line fund to help struggling facilities.

The calls came days after we reported the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley had advertised for volunteers to help in an A&E ward.