Health service helpline NHS 24 has been criticized severely because a staff nurse has refused to send an ambulance to a dying old lady.
Retired nurse Mary Smith, 87 had an agonizing pain in her lower abdomen. Hence she called the NHS helpline twice but the nurse curtly replied that she could not have an ambulance and had to wait for another four hours for a GP to attend to her. Then when the GP arrived he just gave her some painkillers.But her condition further deteriorated and she died in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary 48 hours later of a kidney infection. The granddaughter of the old lady and the politicians has asked for an investigation in to this matter. Sheriff James Tierney also pointed other incidents where NHS 24 failed two other patients, Miah, who died from meningitis, and Wiseman, 30, who died from a rare toxic shock. NHS 24 said it would conduct an internal investigation into the latest death.
