93 year-old in six-hour ambulance wait

93 year-old in six-hour ambulance wait

15 October 2025

THE family of a 93 year-old Downpatrick man, who waited six hours for an ambulance after sustaining a serious head injury in a fall at his home, have called for the return of emergency services to the Downe Hospital.

Mr Dermot MacNabb was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald last Wednesday where he was kept waiting outside in an ambulance for a number of hours before he was treated.

When he was eventually seen by emergency medical staff and had stitches ed in two head wounds, he was placed back in the ambulance where his family say he remained overnight before being taken back into the hospital for a scan.

Mr MacNabb was a prominent member of the Down Community Health Committee and a vociferous campaigner for emergency services at the Downe.

This week, his family has added its voice to the clamour for the return of emergency services to the local hospital to help ease pressure on the Ulster and ensure patients who do not have life-threatening conditions can be treated locally.

Mr MacNabb’s son, Vincent, also revealed that a number of years ago his late mother, Rosaleen who fell at the family home breaking her hip, waited seven hours for an ambulance to arrive to take her to hospital.

He said increasing numbers of people are being literally driven past the Downe to be taken to Dundonald and “wait for hours on end” to be seen by emergency staff.

Mr MacNabb said his father, who was one of the Downe’s most ardent supporters over many years, was bleeding profusely from his injuries following his fall.

He said frantic attempts made to stem the blood flow using towels.

He explained the scale of the blood flow was exacerbated by the medication his father was taking with a relative able to place a bandage around his head.

“Dad was able to alert us that he’d fallen using his personal alarm,” Mr MacNabb revealed.

“He sustained two massive cuts to his head and when we saw the scale of the injuries we rang for an ambulance. We made several calls with the first at 4.45pm, with the ambulance arriving at 10.30pm.”

Mr MacNabb said there was a long queue of ambulances when his father arrived at the Ulster, with some social media reports claiming last week that at one point they numbered 17.

“My father had to remain the back of the ambulance before he was eventually brought in and was treated before being taken back to the vehicle. He remained there overnight before he was taken for a scan the following morning.

“Our family feels very aggrieved at what has happened but this is just not about my father. It’s about patients from this area who have found themselves in a similar situation and those who will experience it in the future — if something isn’t done.

“We have a perfectly good hospital on our doorstep but people who need medical attention are driven past it an an ambulance and taken to other hospitals. We are appealing for the return of emergency services to the Downe so other people are not faced with the same situation.”

Describing the ambulance waiting times some people experience as “ridiculous”, Mr MacNabb questioned what would have happened had his family not been able to stop his father’s bleeding. 

He added: “We have a hospital in Downpatrick, but yet people being taken from this area to the Ulster and left to wait for hours and hours to be treated.

“The arguments my father and other campaigners made over the years for emergency services at the Downe Hospital are as a relevant today as they were then. We are getting a third world hospital service down here and deserve better.

“My father isn’t going to be the last patient to experience a lengthy wait for an ambulance and we would appeal to those with the power to reopen emergency services at the Downe Hospital to do so. It’s totally needed in this area.”