Teen with terminal illness abandoned on hospital trolley in hallway for 14 hours

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A teenager suffering from a terminal illness was left on a trolley in the corridor of a Glasgow hospital for 14 hours as they awaited medical attention.

Mark McAvoy, 18, was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Monday after he began vomiting and experiencing stomach pain.

The young boy has cerebral palsy, a long-term condition that affects his ability to move, along with scoliosis, which is characterized by an abnormal curvature of the spine.

But staff told Mark and his mum, Leanne, that there were no beds available, leaving him to run around in pain on a hospital bed.

Just a day later, Mark's health deteriorated drastically, necessitating an extensive eight-hour surgery, after which he was put into an induced coma.

Leanne, 43, stated that if the hospital had the necessary resources, her son Mark would not be in a coma.

She remarked, "They abandoned him on that trolley in a hallway for 14 hours, and his heart rate was fluctuating dramatically. I informed the nurses that he had been receiving end-of-life care for the past two years, yet nobody appeared to consider the situation at hand."

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"We lingered there for what felt like an eternity, and I repeatedly expressed my concern that Mark's condition was deteriorating. The pain he was enduring at that moment was unbearable."

"I started to feel a surge of panic as I realized we were beginning to lose him. I could see him fading away right before me."

"I ultimately had to request a nurse from the hospice that supports us to come to the hospital and communicate with the staff."

Last Wednesday, Mark was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer following a visit to the doctor and is currently in the ICU.

"However, if he had received attention sooner, he might not be in a coma now, battling for his life," his mother remarked.

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Experts have long warned that the NHS is creaking at the seams. Last year, a record-breaking 518,000 people were left waiting in trolleys for 12 hours or more, according to an analysis by the Liberal Democrats.

These waits for A&E treatment, called ‘trolley waits’, rose by 25% compared to the previous year.

At least 14,000 deaths in 2023 were associated with lengthy trolley waits, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found.

Over the last three decades, the availability of NHS hospital beds in England has significantly decreased, dropping from approximately 299,000 in the 1987/88 period to just 141,000 by 2019/20.

Leanne stated, "The Scottish Government must take steps to increase funding for the NHS."

She remarked, "The hospitals lack the necessary resources, and as a result, my son has been let down severely."

The NHS stated: "Like many regions across the nation, all of our services are facing significant strain, and the onset of winter has introduced further difficulties."

"Although we are unable to discuss specific patient cases due to privacy concerns, we wish to extend our sincerest apologies to Mark and his family for any distress that may have arisen from delays in treatment."