Calls for action on ambulance waits
Bath and North East Somerset MPS have highlighted in Parliament the “crisis” in waiting times for ambulances in the area.
Action has been urged after a 91-year-old Bath man with dementia and a broken hip fell over and was left lying - for some time in urine - for seven hours waiting for an ambulance.
“In my constituency, a 91-year-old man was left waiting for an ambulance for seven hours,” said Bath MP Wera Hobhouse.
“This crisis includes the Leader of the House’s constituency: in the South West, ambulance waiting times are sky high.”
During the excruciating wait, the 91-year-old, who remains anonymous, was accompanied by family members, including his son Neil Tanner, 62.
Mr Tanner said that the family had been left shocked after their experience and felt the South Western Ambulance Service needed more support as they were clearly “under impossible strain”.
“The crisis is also reflected across the country,” said Ms Hobhouse in Parliament. “In North Shropshire, response times to urgent calls are now four hours.
“May we, urgently, have a debate in Government time on ambulance waiting times?” she said.
North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-mogg, in his role as the Leader of the House, responded from the Government front bench.
“I am grateful to the honourable lady for raising that point because our constituents in North East Somerset and in Bath share health facilities,” said Jacob Rees-mogg. “We have over 4,000 ambulance crews in operation across the country, which is an increase of 500 since 2018.”
“NHS England has given ambulance trusts an extra £55 million to boost staff numbers this winter and there is an extra £5.4 billion for the NHS altogether,” he said. “Significant amounts of money are being put in, but I accept that when one is waiting seven hours for an ambulance that is not much of a compensation.
“There is an issue and things do need to improve,” said Mr Rees-mogg. Mr Tanner said that his father’s ordeal was only the “tip of the iceberg”. He had received a phone call from his father’s carer in the early evening on Saturday, October 30 at around 7pm to say he had fallen and that she had phoned 999.
He rushed over, along with his brother to sit by their father as they waited for help to arrive. The advice given was not to move the 91-year-old until experts arrived as he was recovering from a broken hip after a fall the month before.
“My father is frail, he’s got early onset dementia,” said Neil. “As any 91-year-old is, he is frail but also very independent.
“It was just chance that the carer arrived two hours earlier than she would have normally.”
“Dad’s been a good citizen all his life and didn’t deserve that. We have no qualms against the ambulance service, they’re doing what they can but they need more support if it’s like this,” said Mr Tanner.
“Dad had fallen between 6pm and 6.30pm and finally at 2am (as the clocks went back) help arrived.”