First Minister John Swinney apologises to retired police officer who spent five hours on A&E floor in pain

“Colossal” levels of demand for NHS care have made it “very challenging and very difficult” to treat patients, John Swinney told MSPs as he apologised to a retired police officer who spent more than five hours lying on the floor in accident and emergency in pain.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar pressed the First Minister on the “painful, humiliating and dangerous circumstances” the former policeman – identified only as Robert – had to endure when he went to hospital over Christmas.

Sarwar told how a lack of beds meant Robert, from Lanarkshire, had to “lie on the floor in excruciating pain for five-and-a-half hours” before he was given pain-relieving medicine.

He added Robert’s family were told by a nurse that “one patient had been waiting more than 50 hours for a bed”.

Retired police officer Robert had to lie on the floor of A&E awaiting a bed (Scottish Labour/PA) PA Media

Robert’s daughter said: “My dad gave his all for others in his career, now I am genuinely scared the next time something happens he won’t make it through because of the mess the SNP have allowed the NHS to get into.

“The SNP couldn’t run a bath, let alone the NHS.”

Raising the case during First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, Sarwar said: “On John Swinney’s watch, Scots who have worked all their lives like Robert are forced to endure such painful, humiliating and dangerous circumstances.”

Swinney began his response with an “apology to Robert and his family for the experience he had in Wishaw General Hospital”.

Adding that “demand has been colossal for the National Health Service”, he told MSPs the number of people admitted to hospital with flu had spiked at 1,596 in the week ending December 29 – with this the highest weekly total recorded by Public Health Scotland since 2010.

Since then admissions have fallen by 36%, but Swinney said the figures show the “severity of the crisis that we have seen with flu in our country”.

John Swinney said the NHS is enduring a ‘very challenging and very difficult’ winter (PA) PA Media

The First Minister added: “I accept that the pressure on the National Health Service has made the treatment of individuals very challenging and very difficult and people will have not had the type of experience they should have had in hospital care.

“I acknowledge that, I accept it and I make no attempt to deny it.”

However Swinney added: “The level of demand and the pressure on the National Health Service has to be acknowledged, given the scale of the pressure we are facing as a consequence of the flu outbreak we are dealing with.”

He praised NHS staff for their efforts to “do their level best for patients”, but added: “I accept in some circumstances that will not be enough and will not have been good enough for individuals.

“But we have got to acknowledge those two issues, that demand has been colossal for the National Health Service and in addition to that staff have given their all to support individuals like Robert.

“The National Health Service, despite the enormous challenges, has withstood the pressures of the largest level of pressure since 2010 and I thank members of staff for everything they contributed to achieve that objective.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the SNP has plunged the NHS ‘into a permanent crisis’ (PA) PA Media

Sarwar claimed he had warned of a “winter crisis brewing” for the NHS in October last year, as he accused SNP ministers of having “buried their head in the sands”, resulting in “deadly chaos” in the health service.

The Labour leader added: “Over Christmas 1,642 people waited over 12 hours in A&E, ambulances were put on red alert, a flu wave piled even more pressure on our hospitals, and thousands of people waited hours to even get their call answered by NHS24.

“This is the deadly consequence of John Swinney plunging our NHS into a permanent crisis.”