A MUM from Flackwell Heath has urged health bosses to take action in improving the Accident and Emergency service in Buckinghamshire after waiting 16 hours with her poorly son. 

Gurjit Lochab was shocked to find that the A&E services at Stoke Mandeville did not meet her expectations.

Mrs Lochab said her son started vomiting on Sunday evening (January 28) and was suffering from severe abdominal pain suspecting it to be appendicitis. She called the 111 service who advised her to visit Wycombe Hospital. 

From there they were then directed to Stoke Mandeville for further investigation.

Speaking of the experience, Mrs Lochab said: "Yesterday [Jan 30] I returned home with my 15-year-old son from Stoke Mandeville hospital at 3.30pm.

"We were initially directed to Wycombe hospital by 111. 

"From 4pm till 11.30pm we sat in urgent care waiting to see a GP so that we could be referred to A&E."

Even after being referred, they then had to wait a further three hours at A&E Paediatrics, only to be sent home after examination and blood tests and asked to return the following morning at 9am for a scan.

The mother-of-two vented her frustrations over the lengthy process, saying: "Initially, the consultant stated that he couldn't look at the file.

"When I told him I knew this wasn't true and that as a consultant he had that access he eventually relayed to the nurse that the scans were inconclusive."

Mrs Lochab and her son finally left the hospital at 2.10pm the next day without a definitive diagnosis.

Her disappointment was clear, as she highlighted a broader issue in her meeting with the senior consultant in the department.

Mrs Lochab added: "Before leaving, I expressed my disappointment and concern about what was happening at the hospital and he stated that this was occurring all over the UK, "not just there."

The mother highlighted that the total visiting time was four times longer than the four-hour target A&E time in the UK is suppose to be, labelling the service in Buckinghamshire as a "huge health and safety concern."

She said: "From what I see, the target A& E time in the UK is 4 hours. This visit took 16 hours, 4 times the allotted time."

In response to Mrs Lochab's experience, a spokesman from Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS trust said: "Our Emergency Department (also known as A&E) at Stoke Mandeville remains very busy - as in most other NHS Trusts across the country.

"Our focus is to ensure all patients receive the right care in the right place and are not delayed unnecessarily in hospital."

The hospital trust also said they're experiencing "high numbers of people with infectious winter viruses including flu, covid and norovirus" turning up at A&E.

They said: "We would like to remind the public that there is a number of alternative options available to them if their case is not an emergency. These include calling 111 and visiting the Urgent Treatment Centre at Wycombe Hospital."

High Wycombe MP Steve Baker echoed the sentiments, saying: "Obviously a 16-hour wait at Stoke Mandeville A&E is not acceptable, but patients are triaged so the most urgent and life-threatening cases are seen first."

Mrs Lochab warned she will be writing to the MP and the health secretary about what she witnessed in the children's care departments, noting: "Being our first A&E visit outside the capital, I am astounded that the residents of Buckinghamshire are not up in arms about how this is being allowed to happen."