Canvey gran forced to wait 1hr 20mins for ambulance (From Echo)
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Gran forced to wait 1hr 20mins for ambulance
12:00pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News
By Lauren Hockney
A GREAT-grandmother, aged 77, who broke her wrist after falling over on Canvey , waited an hour and 20 minutes to be taken to hospital.
Pauline Browne was not considered a priority by ambulance bosses as she was still conscious having suffered the fall in Canvey High Street.
Mrs Browne, of Kings Park, Canvey, didn’t even get an ambulance sent to her and was eventually taken to hospital in a paramedic’s rapid response car.
Following her fall, she was helped by passing firefighters, a good Samaritan who called 999 and an off-duty paramedic, who kept her comfortable until help eventually arrived.
A furious Mrs Browne said: “I should not be relying on people who haven’t been called to give up their free time to deal with me. It’s all wrong. It’s disgraceful.
“I went sprawling and was literally laid out on the ground after I tripped over a bad piece of pavement.”
Mrs Browne, who has four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, had an operation at Southend Hospital on Tuesday, five days after the fall on Thursday.
She has now had to cancel a two-week holiday with friends to the Canary island of Fuerteventura so she can recover and attend follow-up appointments.
Gary Sanderson, from the East of England Ambulance Service, said the 999 call was classed as non life-threatening and req-uired a response or phone assessment within an hour.
He said: “First and foremost, we do our very best to get to patients within the target, but sometimes this is a challenge if we’re very busy elsewhere with more serious cases, such as cardiac arrests, strokes and unconsciousness, which take precedence over non-life-threatening calls.
“We hope the patient is making a speedy recovery and if she wishes to discuss our response to this incident, she can contact us.”
Comments(7)
exBillericayDicky
says...
12:57pm Fri 28 Sep 12
If one of the 'samaritans' had thought, they could have taken the patient to the hospital in their own car. As it was, a Ambulance service car picked her up. A broken wrist does not need an full ambulance.
And why mention the family numbers or holiday? is that relevant to the fall or waiting for an ambulance? No.
Chelsea77
says...
1:26pm Fri 28 Sep 12
My 80 yr old grandad was having chest pains ( suspected heart attack ) called an ambulance at 2230. A paramedic arrived within 5 mins. I spoke with him and he suggested i made my way to the hospital as my grandad would be picked up very soon. At 22.50 I arrived. Rang my nan and she said still waiting for an ambulance. I spoke with the paramdic again who assured me my grandad was in safe hands and he has all the resus equipment if needed. Well he didnt get an amblance till gone 1230. Arrived at Southend hospital at 0145 the following morning. He waited over 2 hrs for and ambulance. But I didn't go to the papers! It's not the paramedics fault. And like said above ur broken wrist wasn't a priority. Nor life or death situation. Them paramedics work their butts off saving lives. Not to get slated for something so trivial as a broken wrist.
And anyways I blame the government. Cut backs for all these situations!
Basildon.lad.21
says...
4:31pm Fri 28 Sep 12
a) you should of watched where you was walking
b) a broken wrist does not warrant a article in the echo.
c) your injury was not life threatening.
Its people like this that are putting a burden on the NHS. I would avoid anything to go to hospital. I have fallen off my bike and cut my face wide open. Could of easily have done with a few stitches. But did I go? No.
Smudge0407
says...
8:17pm Fri 28 Sep 12
Chelsea77 wrote:did you send a letter of complaint to the ambulance service ? If not then please do. Also complain to your local mp. The government are making far to many cuts to all emergency services and unless the general public start to stand up and say that the level of service at the moment is unacceptable it will only get worse. One of the biggest problems this country has is that too many people will not take responsibility for their own actions, blame someone else and then if you don't like the outcome you can get compensation. Too many people abuse our emergency services so that when it is needed its not available.
Hmm broken wrist....
My 80 yr old grandad was having chest pains ( suspected heart attack ) called an ambulance at 2230. A paramedic arrived within 5 mins. I spoke with him and he suggested i made my way to the hospital as my grandad would be picked up very soon. At 22.50 I arrived. Rang my nan and she said still waiting for an ambulance. I spoke with the paramdic again who assured me my grandad was in safe hands and he has all the resus equipment if needed. Well he didnt get an amblance till gone 1230. Arrived at Southend hospital at 0145 the following morning. He waited over 2 hrs for and ambulance. But I didn't go to the papers! It's not the paramedics fault. And like said above ur broken wrist wasn't a priority. Nor life or death situation. Them paramedics work their butts off saving lives. Not to get slated for something so trivial as a broken wrist.
And anyways I blame the government. Cut backs for all these situations!
Chelsea77
says...
1:14am Sat 29 Sep 12
thankfully my brother works in A&E so he asked the departments sister to track our ambulance as we know it only takes 20mins from Canvey to Southend. Reason for taking a while from granps hse to the hosp was to make sure he was stable assessed and monitored before driving off.
Maybe ur right I should complain about the hrs it took for the ambulance to arrive. But I cannot fault the staff at all.
soul man
says...
7:30am Sun 30 Sep 12
Basildon.lad.21 wrote:the lady is 77, surely the stress factor in someone her age warrants an earlir response than this, bet if it was a councillor or someone like that they would be there in 5 mins, as a point, does canvey not have a private ambulance service on charfleets, do they not cover or is it too costly to use them?
Im sorry gran.
a) you should of watched where you was walking
b) a broken wrist does not warrant a article in the echo.
c) your injury was not life threatening.
Its people like this that are putting a burden on the NHS. I would avoid anything to go to hospital. I have fallen off my bike and cut my face wide open. Could of easily have done with a few stitches. But did I go? No.
alimac69 says...
12:56pm Fri 28 Sep 12
en she has?