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A man had to call 999 from inside a hospital bathroom because no-one was answering his cries for help.

Arthur Debney had been frantically pulling on the alarm cord in the bathroom in the emergency ward at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Rhyl after falling in there.

But when nobody responded to the alarm or his shouts for help for up to half an hour he phoned the emergency services.

Mr Debney, 65, told the operator what had happened and the call handler got in touch with the hospital.

The health board has since apologised and said it was “unacceptable” if Mr Debney didn’t get the help he deserved.

'I shouted and shouted'

Retired gas fitter Mr Debney, who suffers from heart disease and a painful inflammation of the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach, said he had been taken to hospital in an ambulance from his Rhyl home.

He said: “My wife Irena phoned the out-of-hours service and they told her to ring an ambulance because I was in so much pain.

“It was terrible. I was in the ambulance for a couple of hours, then they pushed me into the waiting room. There was no-one about but I wanted to go to the toilet.

“I went into the bathroom and I felt funny. So as I went down I grabbed the red cord.

“I shouted and shouted and shouted but no-one came. I knew the alarm cord was working because I could see the red light it gives off coming under the door.

“It seemed like I’d been there forever. So I phoned 999 and the woman I spoke to told me to keep talking to her until they came to let me out.

“When they let me out the 999 woman asked me to let her speak to the nurse so I gave her the phone.”

'We are extremely sorry'

The father of three grown-up children said he was appalled he had had to go through the ordeal and that he had not been impressed generally by the level of care he received on his regular stays in the hospital, adding: “The way I have been treated is terrible.”

Mr Debney remains in hospital since the bathroom incident on Friday morning.

A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “We are extremely sorry for any distress caused to Mr Debney during this incident.

“All patients should receive prompt help and support and it is unacceptable if this did not happen.

“We can confirm that the management team have already met with Mr Debney to discuss the events and apologise.”