Pensioner had to lie for 80 minutes before ambulance turned up

Pensioner had to lie for 80 minutes before ambulance turned up

25 November 2015

HOSPITAL campaigners have again expressed concern about ambulance provision across the district.

Monday night’s meeting of the Down Community Health Committee was told of a recent incident involving an elderly lady who reportedly had to wait 80 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after she suffered a fall at a car park in Downpatrick town centre.

Campaigner John Carson, who did not reveal the woman’s identity but knows her family, said he was shocked to discover what happened. He said it was his understanding that the woman had to wait for 35 minutes for a paramedic to arrive and then an additional 45 minutes for an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Mr Carson said campaigners are acutely aware of the increasing pressure paramedics are working under and that the resources they have at their disposal are very stretched at times, explaining the ambulance crew who took the elderly lady to hospital was based in Newtownards.

Monday night’s meeting was attended by Paul Turley, a senior official with the Local Commissioning Group (LCG) which is responsible for commissioning health and social care in the Down area.

Mr Carson said the health official would “hear the frustration” of local people about what is happening to local hospital services and the delays some people experience waiting for ambulances.

He continued: “When I heard what happened recently to this elderly lady I hung my head in shame. The question we are now asking is are we being listened to? There is a lot of anger and fear about what is happening to local health services and while I am not saying our health service is bad, I would suggest that 20 years ago an elderly person would not have been left lying in a shopping centre car park for so long before being taken to hospital.”

Mr Carson also suggested the Downe is “dying on its feet” and argued the old Victorian building it replaced delivered a better service, highlighting the need for the 24-hour emergency service which was axed as part of a “temporary measure” at the new hospital to be reinstated.

He added: “I look at the numbers of people attending our monthly meeting and they are decreasing because people are becoming disillusioned. Perhaps the kindness and quietness we display is being viewed as a sign of weakness. I believe we are not militant enough. It’s time for us to be told what services we are getting so we know where we stand.”

Describing the incident involving the elderly lady as “shocking,” Mr Turley said he has also heard of other similar incidents, explaining the Local Commissioning Group has highlighted issues around ambulance provision.

“We do not commission ambulance services and issues about ambulance provision in the Down sector in particular has been very vocal around the LCG table. An additional £1.5m is being invested in local ambulance provision this year, with the LCG trying to understand the demand and capacity for ambulance services and how they might be used better,” he explained. 

“The ambulance trust is trying a range of initiatives and if we can invest more in this service that may free up some vehicles to be more available in this locality.”

Mr Turley said the difficulty in recent times been service changes at the Downe and other hospitals, with ambulances having to make more longer journeys with patients which takes them out of their areas. 

“Ambulances move in to cover areas when people are taken to other hospitals so there is an appropriate response but, sometimes, that response is not as prompt or as appropriate as it should be,” he continued. “There is no point reshaping hospital services if you do not have ambulances to convey people to where they need to be and that’s about having appropriate access to rural communities like you have in the Down sector. I hear what you are saying on this issue and the points made around the LCG table have been reflected to the Ambulance Service.”