Pensioner was left on pavement for 3 hours waiting for ambulance
... and A&E was only a five-minute drive away
SHIVERING and in pain, greatgrandmother Doris Harrison was left on the pavement for almost three hours as there were no ambulances to take her to hospital.
The 79-year-old was only five minutes’ drive from an A&E unit when she slipped and broke her hip and wrist.
Although her daughter, Julie Harrison, dialled 999 immediately it was nearly three hours before paramedics arrived.
Last night Miss Harrison, 57, said she was ‘disgusted’ at the way her mother was treated and would be making a complaint.
‘What is our NHS coming to when a nearly 80-year- old is left lying in the street for three hours?’ she said.
‘We couldn’t lift her to put anything under her because of the pain she was in.
‘She was literally just lying on the pavement with blankets over her. We’re only about five minutes away from the hospital, so we would have taken her ourselves, but we were told not to move her. I think it is absolutely disgusting.’
Mrs Harrison was visiting her daughter’s home in Kensington, Liverpool, when she slipped as she got out of the car at around 3.20pm on Monday. Her daughter called 999 a few minutes later. But the incident was initially flagged as ‘green’ or not life-threat-
‘My mum was screaming in pain’
ening, which means that at busy times such calls go to the back of the queue.
‘They said that there was a high demand in the area and they would get an ambulance to us as soon as they could,’ Miss Harrison said. ‘My mum was screaming in pain and slipping in and out of consciousness. Her hand was black and blue.
‘I kept ringing back and friends and people in the street were doing the same, but they just kept saying there was a high demand.’
Eventually, at 5.47pm, the call was upgraded to a red alert.
Government guidelines say these emergencies should be attended within eight minutes in 75 per cent of cases. However, paramedics still took another half an hour to arrive, finally getting to Mrs Harrison at 6.16pm.
They took the pensioner, who had also broken bones in her hand, to Royal Liverpool University Hospital where she had surgery.
Her daughter added: ‘The paramedics, when they arrived, couldn’t believe she had been left lying there that long.’
A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said: ‘We’re very sorry for any distress and discomfort caused. When we are busy, patients with injuries that are not life-threatening can wait longer for a response because we have to prioritise the most serious cases.’ Mrs Harrison’s ordeal comes after an 85-year-old patient died following a 45-minute wait for an ambulance, because the nearest crew were on a manda- tory rest break. Rachel Lewis fell and banged her head as she got out of a car in February last year. Her daughter, Eirian, 62, dialled 999 and a fast-response paramedic arrived in 14 minutes. But when he called the control room to say an ambulance was needed, he was told the only nearby crew were on a 30-minute break and could not be disturbed. They eventually arrived 43 minutes after the first 999 call.
Mrs Lewis, of Llanwnnen, Wales, had suffered a bleed on the brain and died the next day. While her inquest in Aberystwyth heard her death could not have been prevented, coroner Peter Brunton criticised the Welsh Ambulance Service over its strict break policy – which it said was needed to comply with EU law.
An ambulance service spokesman apologised to Mrs Lewis’s family. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.