Dad's 'nightmare' 31-HOUR A&E wait after being 'told his colon might have burst' - only to be sent home

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A dad-of-two waited 31 hours in a Greater Manchester A&E after being told he could need emergency surgery. Muhammad Ehsan, 44, said a consultant told him to go to A&E fearing his colon might have burst.

But he had to sit on a "hard, plastic" chair with a "really sore stomach" after being told there were no beds available in IT chaos-hit Royal Oldham Hospital. The Rochdale patient who has colitis, a condition where the colon and rectum can become inflamed, waited more than a day - only to be sent home with medication.

He was ‘going to the toilet about 10 to 15 times a day’ in the five days before his trip to A&E. “My consultant advised me to go to hospital to be checked - which I said I didn’t particularly want to do.

READ MORE: 'Dangerous' IT chaos hitting four Greater Manchester hospitals set to 'last another week', medics warn

"The consultant said he was really worried my colon might have burst and that I could need emergency surgery, which would only be possible if I was in a hospital bed. They then sent me a letter saying that they are not responsible if something goes badly wrong because I am not listening to their advice, so it felt like I had to go.”

When Muhammad arrived at the Royal Oldham Hospital’s emergency department on May 23, he says he was told the wait would be five hours. But when a doctor arrived to do initial checks, the waiting time had jumped to 11 hours, he says.

Some 14 hours into his A&E stint, retail worker Muhammad said doctors came to assess him again and told him they wanted to admit him to hospital. Royal Oldham Hospital is among four Greater Manchester Hospitals hit by IT chaos for the last two weeks.

“A doctor told me he’d try his best to get me a bed within a couple of hours, but no