Woman left for five hours on the pavement waiting for an ambulance

A woman was left unable to move on a pavement in Dartmouth, waiting for an ambulance for five hours. 

An ambulance took five hours to arrive to a woman who fell in Fairfax Place, Dartmouth, on Monday, 9 September, leaving her to be comforted by passers by. 

According to South Western Ambulance Service, the ambulance was called at 1302 and arrived on scene at 1803.

Victoria Wallis explained the situation: "Roughly at 12.45pm a lady fell over badly in Fairfax Place. It was evident quite quickly that she couldn’t move and had potentially broken her hip.

"Whilst in the care of an amazing passer by who herself was here on holiday emergency services were called.

"The casualty then remained on a a pavement unable to move, and simply needing urgent help as she also had underlying health issues.

"At least nine 999 calls were made whilst some incredible people stopped including a traffic warden who spent hours sitting with her and again the amazing lady who did not once leave her side!

"I am lost for words. Just hoping the lady is ok and everyone involved knows how important they were! It is truly frightening that this happened."

A recent report by the Government by Lord Darzi to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care published this month, states that "the National Health Service is in serious trouble", with "public satisfaction – which stood at a record high in 2009 – is now at its lowest ever".

The report states that the NHS has been "starved of capital and the capital budget was repeatedly raided to plug holes in day-to-day spending" and now has a "shortfall of £37 billion of capital investment".

You can read the fully report summary on the Gov.uk website here. 

Victoria added: "Witnessing the events that day left me really quite shaken and incredibly angry that this was allowed to happen!

"I was working in the restaurant all day, whilst the casualty was outside in serious pain and totally immobile and as I mentioned after numerous 999 calls and the ladies condition getting worse I was absolutely sickened that she waited like that for nearly six hours!

"It’s also incredible for the lady who didn’t even know the casualty to have sat on the pavement comforting and holding her hand and not leaving her side until she left in the ambulance.

"I think reading others' comments this is now becoming quite normal and questions need to be asked, as soon a treatable fall could so easily end up with someone losing their life waiting on a pavement!"

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: "We are sorry that we were unable to provide a timely response to this patient. Any occasion where the care we provide falls below the high standards our patients deserve and rightly expect is unacceptable.

“Handover delays at emergency departments remain one of our biggest challenges. To ensure our ambulances are available to attend the next emergency call within the community, we need to be able to hand patients over within the 15 minute national target.”

“We continue to work hard with our partners in the NHS and social care, to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive.”

Main image: Derriford A&E stock photo