Ambulances letting down elderly in care
DR IAIN Robertson-Steel is to be applauded for his essay on the deficiencies of the Welsh NHS (WM, December 8).
The Welsh Government, through its spokesperson, mistakenly made out in its response that Dr Robertson-Steel was criticising NHS staff.
This was clearly not the case – he concluded his essay by stating that the responsibility for the failings of Welsh NHS and social care lay with the First Minister and the Welsh Government.
One area of health and social care Dr Robertson-Steel did not mention was the ambulance service.
Elderly people in care and nursing homes are particularly badly let down by the ambulance service.
My mother-in-law, who had a stroke a year ago and who is in a care home in Cardiff, fell in her room last week, breaking her hip.
There were also clear indications that she had suffered another stroke.
She was left lying in agony on the hard, cold floor of her room for two hours before an ambulance or paramedic came.
The next day, she had to have a hip operation and will remain in hospital for some time.
At the same care home recently, another resident who had fallen with serious injury was kept waiting nine hours and another 18 hours.
The ambulance service classifies residents in care homes as lowpriority on the assumption that they are, at least, in a place of safety and are being cared for while they wait.
Is that the right criteria for someone who is badly injured and in great pain?
Isn’t it time for the Welsh Government and the ambulance service to review their priorities towards the elderly, arguably the most vulnerable people in our society? Mansel Jones Rhiwbina, Cardiff