A dad has slammed hospital delays after his four-year-old waited almost 48 hours for three stitches.
Little Cassara Rodgers had to wait almost three days for basic treatment after splitting her lip on Friday afternoon.
The youngster, from Croftfoot, visited the Victoria Infirmary's A&E on Friday evening with her family, only to be referred to Yorkhill by NHS staff.
They were told to return to the dedicated children's hospital on Saturday at 7am where she waited for a gruelling 12 hours, the wound still open on her face.
After the mammoth wait, the family were told to return at the same time the next day due only one theatre operating, with one surgeon.
Cassara finally received treatment for the wound on Sunday afternoon, and was discharged from hospital at 7pm that day - a staggering 50 hours after she was first taken to hospital.
Dad Alex Rodgers has hit out at the "completely unacceptable" delays and raised concerns about the new South Glasgow hospital's ability to deal with sick children after his daughter's experience at Yorkhill.
The 32-year-old chef said: "The nurses were embarrassed about it and the fact we had been waiting so long, they told us to complain so they could maybe get more staff.
"I was asking them why there was only one surgeon, one theatre, for a hospital of that size.
"How they will cope when Yorkhill shuts and everything moves to the new place, I just don't know. They can't seem to cope at the moment."
As the tot had to undergo an anaesthetic, she was unable to eat while she was waiting, making her exhausted, distressed and physically sick.
At one point she had fasted for a full 24 hours while she waited to be seen.
Alex said:"We had to fast our daughter for 24 hours on Saturday, she could only have water.
"She was vomiting bile because she was so hungry and felt so unwell.
"She was also completely bored, it's not the ideal place for a four-year-old to have to wait for hours and hours.
"She only needed three stitches, it wasn't a major surgery or anything, but to have an open wound on her face for that long is just ridiculous."
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said there was no problem with understaffing at Yorkhill, and the suggestion was "totally wrong."
He also said: "When this patient presented to the RHSC A&E department she was booked in for a planned procedure with our plastic surgery team the following day.
"When she arrived at the hospital on Saturday she was admitted to a ward in advance of her procedure.
"During her time on the ward she was monitored by nursing staff and the plastic surgeon was also in regular contact with her family.
"Regrettably her procedure had to be postponed later that day due to a number of highly complex emergency cases which had presented that day and had to be prioritised ahead of this young patient whose procedure was more routine.
"The patient's surgery went ahead the following day - Sunday 16th May.
"We recognise the upset to the family having fasted their daughter in preparation for this procedure and would like to apologise for this inconvenience.
"The Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill is not understaffed and its emergency theatre capacity is appropriate."
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