A BLIND man suffering with a range of illnesses, including diabetes, says he felt compelled to join a campaign calling for a probe into A&E after his own dreadful experience.

Anthony Hobson, 56, was treated on June 5 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital but only after nearly five hours of waiting in which he said his pain increased.

Mr Hobson, from Micklefield, who also vascular disease, was experiencing shooting pains in his legs.

At A and E, he said he had to wait four and a half hours in a wheelchair - which then left him in even more discomfort for sitting so long. He felt numb after that, he added.

Mr Hobson, who has a pacemaker and suffers also with asthma and arthritis, told the Free Press: "I thought it was disgusting, the treatment at SM.

"It makes me feel angry getting treated that way because I am a disabled person."

He was later discharged in the early hours the next day without any cause identified for his pains - which he was also dissatisfied with. He arrived home over six hours after arriving at Stoke Mandeville and said the long journey time had not helped his pain.

He also criticised the way ambulance staff treated him and was unhappy with the non-emergency telephone hotline service which he called before going to hospital.

On his overall experience, he said: "I feel really angry to get treated like that."

Lynne Swiatczak, chief nurse and director of patient care standards, said: “We are sorry to hear that Mr Hobson was not happy with the care he received at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

"We urge Mr Hobson to contact the Trust directly so that we can look into his complaint in detail. It is absolutely our aim to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care and we take all feedback from patients very seriously.”

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust spokesman James Keating-Wilkes said: "The trust is committed to providing all our patients with the best possible pre hospital care.

"The Trust has received no complaint from the gentleman or any person on his behalf, nor is their any indication on our incident log that the patient was in any way disatisfied with either the speed of our response (we were with him in 5 minutes against a response time target of 8 minutes), or the care we provided."

Meanwhile, Cllr Julia Wassell said her petition to trigger a probe into A&E services, has gone beyond 4,000 names now.

Sign it here - http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/wycombehospital&petition.

She said: "We're getting in hundreds every day and we hope to meet 5,000 over the weekend.

"In Marlow, all shopkeepers and pubs have taken it very enthusiastically, including the Britannia and Chequers.

"There has been a high response from Park Street pensioners, Co-Op in Hazlemere, the Junction pub, the Belle Vue and the trades and social club in Queen's Road, High Wycombe."

She appealed to readers to send their individual stories by letter to Cllr Lin Hazell, who is chairman of the scrutiny committee which could start an investigation if 8,000 names are reached.

Email her at lhazell@buckscc.gov.uk. The petition, running until July, is in pubs and online. Contact Cllr Wassell via jwassell@buckscc.gov.uk or 01494 527128

Have you had similar experiences at Stoke Mandeville?

Or have you had the opposite experience and want to put across a different point of view on A&E and hospital services?

Tell us your stories - email bfpnews@london.newsquest.co.uk