Ambulance took hours to get to my father, what can I do?
Irecently called for an ambulance as my father had suffered a fall and injured his hip. We waited hours for the ambulance to arrive despite chasing them. He was in pain and should not have been left like that. What can I do about it?
Regrettably like other parts of the NHS recent statistics have shown that delays are growing.
The time taken to respond to even the most urgent calls is increasing. The time for an ambulance to arrive capable of taking a patient to hospital in the most serious category was close to the worst on record in August 2021.
In the less serious categories, suchasyourfather’s,theresponse time is not set as a target.
Generally, the service would try to respond to 90% of such calls within two hours. Quite often the service will fail to do so for all patients in this category due to lack of resources.
The first thing you could do is towritealetterofcomplainttothe servicesettingoutwhathappened andwhyyourfatherisdissatisfied.
Tellthemabouttheimpactthe delayhaduponhim;hopefullyany investigationwillseeiflessonscan be learned to improve the way the call was handled, the category it was put into, how you were kept informedaboutdelaysandtheuse of the available resources.
Your father is entitled to a response within six months.
Generally, unlike some other services, Ambulance Trusts will respond within the timescale.
If they fail to do so or if your father remains dissatisfied you could take the matter to the Parliamentary
and Health Services Ombudsman.
Ifyoudothatthenbeprepared for a long wait; in our recent experience getting a response from the Ombudsman is more difficult than dealing with the actual service.
Alternatively, if your father feels the delay has caused additional injury or suffering then he may have a claim for compensation.
Hewouldneedtoshowthatthe failure to send the ambulance fell below the appropriate standard, that this led to or materially contributed to his injuries.
The courts are not keen to interfereindecisionsthatarebased on the availability of resources.
Where staff have followed the computerised triage pathway it canbedifficulttocriticisethecategoryinwhichthecallwasplaced.
It may be impossible to show that an ambulance would have been available any earlier or that thedelayhascausedanadditional injury.