My two-hour ambulance agony
APPENDICITS PATIENT LEFT WAITING FOR OVER TWO HOURS FOR AN AMBULANCE
999 BOSSES have apologised after a critically ill patient was left waiting in agony for two-and-a-half hours for an ambulance.
Appendicitis sufferer Pauline Lee was jolted awake in the early hours of Good Friday with severe abdominal pain which left her doubled up and unable to walk.
With no-one to take her to hospital, and in too much pain to take herself, the 68-year-old had no choice but to call an ambulance.
But Pauline, from Whitley Bay, was left waiting for two-and-a-half hours before paramedics eventually arrived.
The retired sales rep, who lives alone, woke up with shooting and stabbing pains shortly after midnight on Good Friday.
“It was horrible - I didn’t know what it was but I didn’t think it was an emergency at first,” she said.
“Then it started to get really painful. I was doubled up, I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom.” Pauline dialled 999 at around 3am and her symptoms were assessed by a clinician, who judged that her condition was not immediately life-threatening. “They asked if there was anybody I could ring to take me to hospital and I said there wasn’t. “She said they were really busy at the moment and there was going to be a wait of up to an hour. “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I was in horrendous pain, on my own, in the middle of the night - it was the most terrible feeling.” The call handler told Pauline to ring back if her symptoms got any worse, which she did twice.
She said: “I rang back at 3.45am and said I couldn’t stand it, but I was told they were still really busy.
“I started to hyperventilate and I was really struggling for breath - I could hardly speak.”
An ambulance eventually arrived at 5.30am.
She was taken to the Northumbria hospital in Cramlington where she was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an operation to remove her appendix that day.
Pauline said: “It was a horrible experience - the paramedics were great when they arrived but I feel there’s something wrong with the system.”
A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said, “We would like to apologise to this patient for her experience of our service and any distress the delay may have caused.
“We would encourage her to contact us directly so we can investigate her complaint further.
“At the time of this patient’s call, we were in clinical escalation due to the high level of demand.
“The patient spoke to a clinician as part of her assessment and an ambulance was dispatched on more than one occasion, but was diverted each time to potentially life-threatening incidents received at the same time.”
We would like to apologise to this patient for her experience of our service and any distress the delay caused