"Bariatric ambulance availability"

My dad was referred to hospital by his GP. My dad has a bariatric recliner chair which he uses 24/7. He sleeps in his chair. He suffers from chronic bilateral lymphoedema in his legs. My dads chair became faulty on a Friday and a technician wasnt available to look at his chair until the following Tuesday morning because of bank holidays.  On the Tuesday my dad had contracted a UTI and was passing blood in his urine, he wasn't able to get out of his chair as the rising function had stopped working.

To our knowledge his GP phoned Ayr Hospital to check if a bariatric bed was available to admit him. This was confirmed and the bariatric ambulance was coming down from Glasgow to transport him to a Ayr Hospital with a waiting time of up to 4 hours.  After 3 hours, around 3pm, an ambulance arrived to assess my dad. As it wasnt the bariatric ambulance the paramedics had to contact the control centre to ask why they had been sent out. The paramedic came back in and advised us that the bariatric ambulance from Glasgow hadn't been arranged. The control centre was now sending the bariatric support van from Kilmarnock.  It arrived around 6pm and we were then advised that it wouldn't be suitable as it didn't cover his weight.  

The 4 paramedics outside were trying to come up with a new plan at this point.  One came back into the house and advised us that a manager was on the way to assess the situation. At this point my dad couldn't get out his chair at all, was very uncomfortable and his energy levels deteriorating.

The manager arrived around 7 o clock, he wanted to phone the fire brigade and have them carry my dad out in a large piece of tarpaulin.  I strongly objected to this as this would have increased my dad's stress levels and would have been very undignified.  I feel if my dad could have a heart attack brought on by this situation we would lose him.  At this point to our knowledge the bariatric ambulance still hadn't been organised.

The manager left to contact the control centre again… they put the bariatric ambulance through as an emergency. Then around 8pm we were advised that another senior manager was on route to further assess the situation. This had become increasingly frustrating as this was the 3rd time my dad has been admitted to hospital in the last 2 years, I thought that this would have been on his records. On the last 2 occassions we had similar incidents but I don't think to this extent.

An area mgr arrived shortly after on contacting Ayr Hospital was advised that the bed that was held for my dad was now taken and they had nowhere to put him. She contacted the duty mgr and was awaiting a response.  I told them to make a plan at 10pm or leave as mum and dad needed sleep they’d had a very stressful few days and didn't need to up all night going back and forth trying to make plans.

The next solution was to have doctors on call come in and give my dad antibiotics for his urine infection. He hadn’t been given anything as doctor thought he would get them in the hospital.  One of the plans now was to leave my dad at home with antibiotics and arrange the bariatric ambulance to come the following day.  The manager was on the phone back and forth with Ayr Hospital duty manager to clear a bed for him.

At some point the area manager arranged for SORT to come from Glasgow as they had a chair that would hold my dad and would be wide enough for his legs as he suffers really bad swollen legs due to his lymphodema. Around  11pm SORT had arrived and a bed had been cleared in Ayr Hospital for my dad. The wait time at Ayr hospital in an ambulance was 7 hours. The manager advised that he would not be waiting in an ambulance and would have to be taken straight in.  SORT and the other paramedics that were still here, had my dad in a chair and onto a stretcher and into ambulance in around 10 minutes.  

This whole situation has been really stressful for both my mum and dad and a complete waste of NHS resources were used at our house. An ambulance sat in our driveway from 3pm until 11pm, the bariatric support van also sat outside and another ambulance crew had to be sent to relieve the original paramedics that came as their shift had finished hours ago. The paramedics that we had were fantastic they tried their best to sort the situation but I feel that there were too many miscommunications.

Fortunately my dad didnt have a life threatening condition as he wouldn't be with us today. I have asked for this to be put on his records so as this doesnt happen again. If the bariatric ambulance or the SORT ambulance had arrived at 3pm my dad would have been in the hospital without all the stress. It shouldn't take 2 ambulances a support van and multiple members of management staff to get one man into a hospital.  I understand that hospitals are full and under pressure and that as my dad was going in for more social than medical then he, we felt, wasnt a priority. He wasn't able to get out his chair to use the toilet. The times are approximate as it was a very stressful day.