Heartbreaking photo of cancer patient, 82, forced to wait SEVEN HOURS in A&E despite fears she had suffered heart attack

AN exhausted OAP cancer patient sits with her head in her hands in a heartbreaking photo as she is made to wait seven hours in A&E — despite fears she had a heart attack.

Olive Keers, 82, had been rushed to the emergency ward after telling medics during a chemotherapy session that she had suffered chest pains the previous night.

Her daughter Susan Keers, from Wrexham in North Wales, praised the 'caring and professional' staff at Glan Clwyd Hospital near Rhyl.

But she said NHS cuts were to blame for her mum's "disgusting" treatment on Friday.

Mrs Keers is undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the hospital after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in August.

Susan, 51, who took the pic of her mum, told the : "We have the most caring and professional nursing staff and doctors in the world, but the treatment of my mum was disgusting.

"We arrived at A&E at 5pm and after two hours I asked how long we would be waiting for, as mum was starting to feel unwell.

"A doctor apologised for the delay and said we had been forgotten about.

"We were then taken to a side ward to wait for a chest X-ray and mum was sat in a reclining armchair rather than a bed.

"By now, we'd been here for seven hours and mum was absolutely exhausted after a week of chemo and she was feeling unwell."

It was only at midnight — nearly 11 hours after Mrs Keers arrived at hospital for her 1:30pm chemo appointment — that she finally had a chest X-ray.

But Mrs Keers was then told that there were no beds available.

She thought she would have to spend the night sleeping in the armchair while doctors assessed her condition.

But she was later moved between four beds as nurses struggled to find a suitable place for her to sleep — all while she suffered the nauseating side-effects of her powerful chemo.

Mrs Keers added: "The nursing staff were very kind and the delays were not their fault - they are run ragged from all the government cuts - but I will be making a formal complaint."

It was not clear if Mrs Keers had suffered a heart attack.

A spokesperson for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: "We're sorry to hear this account of the care provided in our hospital.

"We would like the opportunity to investigate this formally, and urge Ms Keers to contact us directly so that we can look into her concerns."

It comes after The Sun Online reported how an "alarming" new poll revealed more than half of doctors fear their hospitals won't be able to keep patients safe this winter.

As many as 58 per cent of docs said they felt "worried" or "very worried" about their hospitals' ability to deliver proper patient care over the cold season.

Shadow health secretary Jonathon Ashworth said that more cash should be made available to the NHS to ensure its ability to cope over the winter.

Last month, health secretary Matt Hancock announced that an extra £240 million will be injected into adult social care services to help get patients home quicker - freeing up valuable hospital beds.

An NHS England spokeswoman said it is "vital that councils and hospitals work together to target the extra £240 million social care funding on support to get patients home quickly."