A councillor has praised Gwynedd hospital staff for their “brilliant care” whilst sharing details of a gruelling 32 hour wait with his wife in the A&E department.

Deborah Owen spent eight hours overnight in a busy Bangor hospital waiting room, followed by 24 hours on a trolley following a collapse.

After being seen by doctors, she would later spend a further six hours on a chair in a ward until she saw the consultant and could go home.

Harlech and Llanbedr councillor, Gwynfor Owen, said he wanted to “emphasise praise” for all the nurses and doctors who looked after his wife.

They work “incredibly hard caring for people amid huge pressures,” he said.

The councillor relayed the couple’s experience during a meeting of Cyngor Gwynedd’s care scrutiny committee.

Cllr Owen had described how he had returned to his Penrhyndeudraeth home to find a pool of blood on the ground outside his front door – inside, his wife Deborah was sat bleeding.

She had apparently passed out and hit her face after a long term cardiovascular problem had flared up on Monday, 6 January.

The councillor initially drove her to the minor injuries hospital at Ysbyty Alltwen, but after establishing that her blood pressure was “very high” it was advised that she go to Ysbyty Gwynedd.

“Arriving at the hospital at 11pm, we were seen quickly by triage but then had to wait in the sit-down area of A&E for about eight hours,” he said.

The staff in the department “were working under tremendous pressure,” he added.

By 7am, his wife had collapsed again and a number of doctors and nurses had come immediately to her assistance.

“Their service to her was excellent,” he said.

She was taken to the other side of the A&E and placed on a trolley for another 24 hours and then moved to the Gogarth Ward where she was for about six hours until being discharged, he said.

“Up on the ward my wife saw a consultant after six hours, but she had seen other brilliant doctors in the meantime. She along with others were sitting here, rather than on a trolley,” he said.

During the long incident Cllr Owen said he had been “famished” and “very tired” and said there had been no cold drinks machine available and no food in the immediate area.

Responding during the meeting, BCUHB Chair Dyfed Edwards hoped the councillor’s wife was better, saying: “What you have shared is a fairly common experience, I have been in emergency departments in Wrexham, Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Gwynedd, it can be difficult indeed for staff undertaking a shift under those circumstances, extremely difficult.

“Let us try and influence what we can influence, one of those is the people’s experience when waiting, be they on a waiting list for one, two or three years even for treatment, the same is true of emergency departments for people waiting hours, sometimes days.

“We have to look after them while they are there without detracting from the clinical side.”