Sunderland patient's FIVE HOUR wait for inhaler after 111 mix-up

He was directed to Bunny Hill Primary Care Centre on Hylton Lane. However, when he arrived there he was told that they had not accepted walk-ins since November 30, and would only deal with patients with appointments.

He then drove to A&E at Sunderland Royal Hospital, but was directed to the walk-in centre at Pallion which was incredibly busy.

Liam redialled 111, who sent him back to Bunny Hill with an appointment and he was given an inhaler around five hours after making the initial call.

Liam, a support worker, has had asthma since childhood and is angry about his ordeal. He has complained to the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), who run the 111 service.

He said: “My fingers were blue. I couldn’t breathe properly and there was a tightness in my chest. It’s quite distressing when you can’t breathe properly.

“They asked on the 111 line if I might be having a heart attack. But I knew it wasn’t that.

“They really should have known that Bunny Hill wasn’t taking walk-ins any more.”

NEAS strategic head of emergency operations centre, Sue Tucker, said: “We apologise if our service at 111 did not meet this patient's expectations.

“There have been some recent changes to healthcare services that we refer to in the Sunderland area.

“We have received a formal complaint from the patient and will review his case to identify possible learnings for the future.”

In July urgent care services at Houghton and Washington health centres were stopped. Pallion Health Centre has recently been upgraded to an Urgent Treatment Centre and walk-in access stopped.

Dr Tracey Lucas, executive GP for Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We regret that someone experienced such an issue and we’ll work closely with NHS 111 to ensure they are fully aware of these changes.

“We’d like to remind people that the urgent care service at Bunny Hill has moved to Pallion Urgent Treatment Centre.”