2 hour wait for an ambulance

[UnknownStuntm...]

Not me, soz.

Last evening, as I was about to go to bed I heard a croaky voice in the road outside "help me". I investigate and find one of my extremely elderly neighbours had fallen, most likely broken her hip and was laying on her back on the floor outside of her house. I've done first aid before, so run through in my head the DRABC. She's very vulnerable, but fully conscious and alert. Wearing her nightie and a gown, laying on wet concrete. It's 3 degrees outside and dropping.

Couldn't move her because she was in a great deal of pain and I can tell her leg isn't coming out at the right angle. So I get a load of blankets and coverings and do my best to get her off the ground. Can't put anything under her back or hips at all. Call 999, go through the splurb on the phone and they tell me definitely not to move her, an ambulance is on it's way. I reiterate she's outside on the floor, they maintain 'do not move her'.

As they did when I called again 30 minutes later.

And again another 45 minutes after that. On this third call I got a little testy and after the splurb I asked exactly when someone was going to be on their way as this poor ninety-one year old lady has been laying with a broken hip on wet concrete for about two hours. "We'll make sure they're on blue lights and sirens". Oh jolly good then, that's a novel idea wonder why nobody else thought of that.

By this time, some family have arrived, it's a two hour drive from their house. I make sure they're fully up to speed with what's happened (I now know all about them and their children, where they live etc. 2 hours is a long time to chat to someone!)

Half hour after that finally an ambulance gets to us. I make sure they're able to get to the scene as quick as possible, shining torch up the driveway and saying mind the step, etc.

First paramedic straight away says to the patient: "Oh no you're out in the cold on the floor, we didn't know that".

So I'm naturally livid about this. Clearly, three calls to 999 saying 'she's outside lying on wet concrete with a broken hip' isn't on the splurbdroid list of respondable phrases.

I know it's not going to do any good, but I cant help thinking a complaint of sorts is in order.

TL;DR: Who to moan at regarding ambulance response times, without showing any disrespect any of the people who actually did respond?

[Ste]

Send your complaint to the ambulance service trust.

[B5234FT]

First up, well done for stepping up, it's great there are still good people out there.

Second, thats mental, but doesnt surprise me. Definitely complain, it's not just whinging, its an opportunity for them to address a failing in operational procedure which may save a life.

[Polarbear]

Karma for your help.

Ambulance trust to complain to? Is there an ombudsman somewhere in the system?
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[UnknownStuntm...]

Do the trusts man the 999 phones? That's where I think the problem is, not passing the correct info on to the ambulance crew?

[Ste]

They don't but you don't know where the communication problems occurred so let the ambulance service trust work out what went wrong.

[UnknownStuntm...]

[kgm]

Sadly not a rare event. Ambulance are massively overloaded and much of what they're having to deal with is a waste of their time. I've had a few occasions where the wait has been lengthy, and on one occasion ended up taking an unconscious bloke up to A&E myself after waiting over an hour and a half. He went straight to resus. The ambulance crews really do get pumped, I don't envy their job at all.

Good job for helping out

[Polarbear]

[M.C]

A couple of people I worked with, one waited 45 mins after a motorcycle crash (he had neck injuries), another guy 90 mins when he discovered his mum wasn't breathing (she did die). I assume like the rest of the NHS the ambulance service's stretched to breaking point.

[grr666]

It's almost as if all unionised industries are on a go slow because of who the current government is. The public sector
lot don't appreciate being ripped off of the teat and this is how they show it. Work to rule etc. Then there's the usual suspects...
Wait til the new year pay strikes on the underground and the trains, the annual Christmas go slow on the royal mail where
they draft in agency staff to steal your items as they are just too busy to rob you themselves, the teachers usually strike a few
days off for christmas shopping, Police "too busy" (playing cards and eating biscuits in the station canteen) to come when
thieves hit 7 garages and 4 sheds a few nights ago at my brothers. 11 people were broken into and robbed in one
night, and they didn't send a single copper round, on 11 separate sites they would have left some kind of DNA or
evidence, after 2 days of rain that's long gone. It all serves the purpose of showing how bad things are running under
the Tories (boo-hiss etc). It's pretty transparent tbh.
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Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[M.C]

[MarJay]

[M.C]

The cuts to the NHS have been well publicised. As for coppers I always assume they're a bunch of apathetic corrupt arseholes (except for your sister grr... ) regardless of who's in power.

[MarJay]

[grr666]

I think an apathy has to develop when you are prevented from doing the job you joined to do by red tape and endless admin,
coupled with the union waving the rule book around. When they are hands on these days the Police have a phone in their
face the whole time so they have to be very non combative, the best way I can see to achieve this level of zen is to switch off
and just let it all wash over you. Especially in these overtly PC times.

I should add, Nice one OP for staying with the old girl. My next door neighbour is 90 odd and I'd like to think someone
would stay with her in the same situation.
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Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Freddyfruitba...]

Everyone's banging on about cuts, underfunding to the NHS etc, and while there's no argument from me that this is a massive issue, in the OP's case the fundamental problem was evidently lack of communication within the ambulance service, ie presumably basic human incompetence.
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[winz]

I waited an hour after cutting an artery, but I was in the arsehole end of Cornwall. The Mrs called every 15mins and the first two times they hadn't got an ambulance out as I wasn't considered a priority. The call after that they finally realised how serious it was and they turned up 20mins later.

Hats off to you for stepping up and helping out though. Might even get a mince pie and a christmas card in the post!
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[M.C]

[Pjay]

We need some plot development here.
What was your elderly neighbour doing in the road at night in her nightie?
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[UnknownStuntm...]

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[Polarbear]

Without trying to sound like MPT it's hardly an shock the NHS is struggling and immigration is bound to be responsible for a part of that.

I was surprised to find out that foreigners residing in UK can register with a doctor and therefore become entitled to free health care and although the NHS are meant to charge foreigners for hospital treatment they rarely do.

https://fullfact.org/health/health-tourists-how-much-do-they-cost-and-who-pays/

You can't really expect the system to cater for and extra quarter of a million prospective patients a year without considerable investment.

It's probably similar with the police. As well as our home grown delinquents it can't help allowing swathes of 'fighting age ' males with the ethics of a third world country into Britain to prop up our own unwashed.
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