SOME patients prefer watching what goes on in A&E than getting treatment at more suitable venues, local health chiefs have said.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board has admitted the situation at Swansea's Morriston Hospital was not ideal, with unexpected numbers of seriously ill patients arriving by ambulance, which have stacked up outside.
But it has reiterated that patients who don't come by ambulance should consider visiting minor injury units at Singleton and Neath Port Talbot hospitals or phoning the GP out of hours service, if appropriate.
"The position at the emergency department has improved and there were no ambulance delays overnight on Wednesday," said an ABMU spokeswoman.
"People are still attending the department who could be treated more quickly by more appropriate services. Some patients even prefer to sit and wait in the emergency department watching what is going on rather than use one of these services."
The Post has been contacted by many people concerned about A&E jams and queuing ambulances.
Alma Parfitt, of Gendros, accompanied her mum Dorothy Burrington to Morriston A&E after the 93-year-old experienced breathing problems at her Swansea care home.
She said the ambulance arrived at A&E at 11.34am on Monday but that her mother was admitted at 3.30pm, although paramedics liaised with A&E staff in the meantime. Mrs Parfitt said that, according to paramedics, A&E staff then planned to return her to the ambulance.
"But the paramedics had a word and she was put in a trolley bay," she said. "The following day at 12.30pm she was taken to the Clinical Decision Unit.
"My mother was very, very poorly, and the paramedics were frustrated. It is the system letting people down."
