A WOMAN suffering from cancer was left soaked in her own blood for 30 minutes before receiving treatment.
Carl and Jacky Knott of Willow Close in Old Colwyn, rushed their daughter Felicity, 26, to Glan Clwyd Hospital, Bodelwyddan just after 10pm when a tube passing through her chest began to bleed profusely.
But after being told to come straight to Enfys oncology ward, they found the building locked, with no answer on the intercom.
Mr Knott said: “Felicity had phoned ahead and was told to attend the ward for treatment. When we arrived everything was locked up and there was also an ambulance crew trying to gain access ringing the door and getting no response at all.
“We went through the main entrance with my daughter in a wheelchair because she was so weak from the amount of blood she had lost.”
Felicity, who suffers from Hogkinson’s disease, was taken straight to the ward, but on arrival the access doors were locked.
Mr Knott said: “There we were with our daughter bleeding quite badly, along with the ambulance crew from Anglesey with their patient on a trolley, stuck in a hospital corridor with no means of access whatsoever."
They got into the ward with the help of a nurse from the maternity unit.
“It took us over half an hour to get in there. The ward staff were very considerate but told us the security staff go off at 9pm. We are disgusted in this. Our daughter could have bled to death in the time taken to gain access.”
A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said access to Enfys Ward was restricted out of normal working hours for staff and patient security, and the main hospital entrance should be used.
He said: “As a result of this incident we have made it clear to staff that they must advise patients and staff appropriately. Information on how to gain entry to the ward out of normal working hours is now on display at the entrance to the cancer centre.”