A man had to eat off a bin in hospital as he recovered from a heart attack.
Steven Bradwick suffered two heart attacks in just a few weeks and was admitted to the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
The 58-year-old says he was constantly moved around corridors, left in a room with four trolleys and nine people, forced to sleep on a chair, and was not seen by a doctor for a day.
The councillor suffered two heart attacks in the space of a few weeks with the first being at the end of March when he received good treatment, reports Wales Online.
But on Friday April 5 he was taken in again and claims he was was left on a trolley for several hours.
He said he was moved around corridors and moved into a resuscitation bay but it was needed by a doctor so he was moved back out to the corridor outside a door which was in constant use with staff looking for A&E supplies.
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He said: “Every five minutes I was being moved. I was moved back into another corridor and was left there all night.”
He was then moved into the CDU (clinical decision unit) before moving back into the corridor when he was told by a member of staff he could not sit there and needed to go.
“I was moved into a little office and kept in there all night. I was told the air conditioning was broken and was stuck on minus two degrees. I was given blankets."
He said the fault with the air conditioning system had been reported six weeks ago.
At 8am the following morning he was moved again by doctors to another room.
“It was a four-trolley room but with nine trolleys and nine people. I had my head against a washing basin. I had no table to eat my food off. I had to eat my food off a clinical waste bin.
"My sister had to bring extra towels and I had to eat food from my lap.
"We had a jacket potato and you couldn’t put a knife into the potato because it was so hard.”
He was told that was because there was frost in the potato and as a former head chef he said that was “absolutely ridiculous”.
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Cllr Bradwick said he was told on Monday lunchtime that he would be being transferred to the Heath but was later told he wouldn’t be going before being told on Tuesday that the letter for his transfer was only being done then.
“I lost my trolley and was told to sit in a chair. I was told to sit there until 9pm on Monday.”
He called for the bed manager who came and apologised and explained the situation to him but claimed he was then spoken to by a very “patronising” doctor who he alleged asked him if he thought he was going to get special treatment just because he is a councillor.
Cllr Bradwick found a bed at 2.30am on Tuesday and later that morning he phoned the health board chief executive’s secretary and told her what happened and was eventually moved into ward two.
“Within 10 minutes I had the head nurse seeing to me and a doctor. I hadn’t seen a doctor in 24 hours.
“I couldn’t thank the staff on ward two enough. They were outstanding in the work that they were doing. The staff in the CDU were outstanding.”
He then asked the consultant cardiologist why the letter to refer him to the Heath was only being done on the Tuesday and why it wasn’t sent on the Monday to which the reply was that he “slipped through the system”.
Cllr Bradwick it was the system that was the problem but he couldn’t fault the staff.
Cllr Bradwick even said he saw a nurse starting the morning shift at CDU who was still there at 10pm.
He added: “I couldn’t care less about me. What I care about is the little old lady who lives down the road who has got no-one to fight for her. It shouldn’t happen to anybody.
“That is why I am battling for her. I can fight my own battles. I know the system. I am really concerned about people who fall through the system who haven’t got a voice. ”
He said they have already ordered extra trays and tables as a result of these issues being brought to light.
“I am so annoyed over the treatment. Nurses went beyond the call of duty.
“People are quick enough to criticise us in councils but health boards are getting away with blue murder.
“There is no accountability. I have got to stand for election. They haven’t. As an elected member I am scrutinised all the time for what I do. The health board get away with murder.
“The chief executive needs to get up there and work on the floor for a couple of hours to see how things are.”
A spokesman for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We cannot comment on the circumstances surrounding individual cases.
“We can confirm that we are currently undertaking an investigation into the issues raised by Councillor Bradwick ."
