Elderly Mansfield woman left to wait 2.5 hours for ambulance
Elsie with great-granddaughter Scarlett-Grace
MORE concerns have been raised about ambulance response times in Mansfield after an 84-year-old woman was left waiting in excruciating pain for two-and-a-half hours.
Great-grandmother Elsie Plume suffered a fall at her home in Elton Close, Oak Tree Lane estate, and was found by carers.
Chad reported last month how a two-year-old toddler from the same Mansfield estate waited for over half-an-hour for an ambulance before going to King’s Mill Hospital in the back of a paramedic’s 4x4.
Lara Kinnison-Fearnley had stopped breathing by the time she reached hospital. Her mum Katie Bond was told the ambulance was making its way from Worksop.
After Elsie’s fall at 6.10pm on 14th January, an ambulance was called and her son Tony rushed from his home in Bilsthorpe to wait with his mum until paramedics arrived.
But Tony was left fuming as he paced up and down the street looking for the ambulance which finally arrived two-and-a-half hours after the call was made.
He was again told the ambulance had to travel from Worksop.
Furious Tony said: “I got there as quickly as I could. She was on the floor bent over double and crying out in excruciating pain. I was told not to move her and wait for the ambulance.
“It took exactly two-and-a-half hours for the proper ambulance to arrive.
“I asked why it had took so long and they said they had come from Worksop.
“She’s an 84-year-old woman, she’d had a fall, was severely dehydrated and it turns out she had an infection.
“I know they are busy and the weather was bad, but two-and-a-half hours is far too long.”
Elsie is still at King’s Mill Hosptial but hopes to be moved back into the community soon.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) have recently come under fire for failing to meet national response time targets and have also been criticised for plans to close a number of ambulance stations in the region.
A spokesman for EMAS said: “On 14th January, we experienced high demand due to the weather conditions and patients suffering an immediately life-threatening condition always take priority over people reporting less serious illness or injury.
“We received the call at 6.05pm. We despatched an ambulance at 6.40pm but at 7.11pm it was diverted to a higher priority call. We weren’t able to allocate another vehicle until 7.53pm and this arrived at 8.24pm.
“We are sorry for the distress this delay caused.”
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Weather for Mansfield
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 7 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
