Cancer survivor ‘has to wait 11 hours in A&E with severe chest pains before she can see a doctor’

A pensioner battling cancer claimed she was forced to wait 11 hours in A&E amid fears that severe chest pains could be a blood clot.

Beryl Hankin had just finished a course of radiotherapy when she noticed a growing pain in her chest during the early hours of a weekday.

The 79-year-old from Darlington, County Durham, claimed she initially contacted 111 before going with a friend to Darlington Memorial Hospital at 7am where she faced an unimaginable queue.

At one point, Beryl alleged there were so many people that a security employee had to ask those who weren’t patients or carers to leave in order to make space.

Beryl Hankin (pictured), 79, queued for hours at Darlington Memorial Hospital at just 7am, it was alleged

She said: ‘I expected it to be that bad on a Friday or Saturday evening, but this was a weekday at 7am.

‘After three hours, the waiting time went down to seven hours because I think some more doctors had come on duty.

‘The triage took place within about 30 minutes so that was good. The staff were all very kind. I needed an X-ray to make sure there were no blood clots because I was so worried that could be fatal.  

‘The scary thing was though, the number of patients never went down. It only went up.’ 

Beryl, who owns a fair trade store in Darlington, also claimed that some people were getting ‘restless’ and a ‘bit edgy’ in the waiting area at this time.

‘A couple of people got stroppy when they were asked to wear a mask in a medical setting. You don’t really want to see people being rude to staff when they’re doing their job,’ she added.

Dr Neil O’Brien, executive medical director for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: ‘People needing help in our emergency departments across the region is nearly 30 per cent higher this December than in the same period in 2021.

‘This has put enormous pressure on our teams who have had to work incredibly hard to deal with this significant rise in the number of people needing medical attention, with many people presenting with flu, Covid-19 and respiratory conditions.

‘We’ve also had an increase in staff sickness adding further challenges. We really do want to thank all our teams for their dedication in what has been a very challenging time.’

MailOnline has approached the NHS County Durham and Darlington Trust for comment.