The day I spent on a trolley

I read with amazement your article headed "Hospital beds face the axe", Star October 23. A year ago I developed atrial fibrilation. On July 31 at 2am I had an attack. My wife took me to the A&E. I was admitted but there was a shortage of beds.

For 12 hours I had ECGs, and other tests done on a trolley in a corridor. Shortly after I arrived an elderly woman was brought in with a broken hip.

As she was on a trolley next to mine and I followed her progress. The surgeon outlined the plan, soon to a ward, 4pm preparation, 6pm operation.

At 2pm my heart rate returned to normal. I was willing to return home but told I must wait for a scan. My neighbour with the broken hip was by now increasingly uncomfortable and her family irate. A harassed administrator offered a bed in a male ward but warned of a patient who insisted on walking about naked.

The family erupted and demanded she be transferred to another hospital.

At 4pm I was wheeled to another emergency area. At 8pm I was found a bed. I offered to go home and return the following day to free up a bed but the orderly suggested removing my shoes to prevent an escape.

At 11am the next day the scan man came. He had card for a scan at 3pm the previous day but couldn't find me on the hospital computer.

I always wondered what happened to the elderly woman with the broken hip and whether A&E have enough trollies.

Graham Mackay, Shrewsbury