Man, 89, with serious head injury left waiting an hour for ambulance

An 89-year-old man with a serious head injury was left lying on a busy Glasgow street for more than an hour awaiting an ambulance.

James Keegan, a first aider who rushed to the pensioner’s assistance, said he didn’t know if the pensioner would live or die.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has apologised to the man, who was left bleeding heavily on Sauchiehall Street for more than 66 minutes on Thursday. The man has a heart condition and is on blood-thinning medication.

He had fallen backwards and hit the back of his head on the ground. Mr Keegan, who is from the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow, waited with the injured pensioner and called for the ambulance at 1:29pm. It was 2:35pm when paramedics finally arrived. Existing targets are for 75 per cent of the most serious calls to be responded to within eight minutes.

The Scottish Ambulance Service blamed “exceptionally high demand” for the pensioner’s ordeal.

Mr Keegan said: “There was a lot of blood, it was a very deep gash. I was on my knees holding the back of his head with a compress.

“There were people coming out of shops and walking past and then coming back again and they couldn’t believe he was still there. He told me his name was William and he was originally a joiner and from Giffnock and in a care home.

“My anxiety levels started to go up because he was starting to shake and saying he couldn’t feel his legs. I was shaking myself with the cold.

“When the ambulance eventually arrived, he was very apologetic, but people were helping to put him in the ambulance. It just seemed very unprofessional and undignified and a complete disgrace.”

Glasgow Tory MSP Annie Wells said it was an example of how stretched the NHS was in Scotland.