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Ambulance took over 7 hours to arrive

Posted By NHS mental health clinician

"Ambulance took over 7 hours to arrive"

About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department

(as a carer),

My disabled sister who lives with my elderly parents had a fall in her upstairs bedroom at 1:30pm badly injuring her leg and looked broken !! I arrived at the house at 1:45pm to sit with her til ambulance arrived. We were triaged via video call by a paramedic 1 hour later and were told the ambulance could take anything from 59 minutes to 2.5 hours. I was told to call 999 again if her pain increased also told she had not to eat or drink anything . After 4hours waiting I called again as was very worried and my sister was in intense pain . Was told they were very busy in my area and that the ambulance would be as soon as they could get to me.

Ambulance eventually arrived at 8:45pm! I followed my sister in the ambulance in my own car and met at the hospital as she has learning and physical disabilities I was permitted to stay with her. She lay on a trolly bed in A&E in UHW until 1am before being x-rayed confirmed both her tibia and fibula were fractured. No pain medication was administered until 1am. She then had to wait til after 4am to get a plaster fitted and be transferred to an orthopedic ward.

I am very angry about the way my sister was treated or perhaps not treated when all around us others appeared to be getting swifter treatment if they complained or shouted loud enough.

As an NHS clinician myself I have some insight into the procedures in hospitals. I felt my sister was not prioritized by the ambulance service and a&e staff as she has a learning disability and not able to complain herself.

My experience on Friday was not only highly stressful for my sister but also for myself and my elderly parents!

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Responses

Response from Alan Martin, Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs and Engagement, Scottish Ambulance Service 3 years ago
Alan Martin
Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs and Engagement,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 18/08/2020 at 16:10
Published on Care Opinion at 16:10

picture of Alan Martin

Dear NHS Mental Health Clinician,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback here on CareOpinion. I am so very sorry for the delay in attending your sister. I hope that she is more comfortable now and that her recovery and rehabilitation is swift. Please pass on my apologies to her and to your parents also.

I would like to have your sisters experience reviewed if that would be something that you would be willing to engage with us around? If so could I ask that you email my team at Scotamb.feedback@nhs.net and provide the time and address that we attended your sister on Friday. They will ask for some form of consent to share personal details and I can discuss this with you later on. If you would also be so kind as to include your CareOpinion username so that the team can link your email back to this story.

The video triage is a new process for us and it would be valuable to be able to take any learning that is available.

Thanks again and kind regards

Alan

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Response from Andy Pender, Senior Nurse, Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Wishaw, NHS Lanarkshire 3 years ago
Andy Pender
Senior Nurse, Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Wishaw,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 18/08/2020 at 16:50
Published on Care Opinion at 16:50

picture of Andy Pender

Dear NHS mental health clinician,

Firstly I would like to apologise for any delay that your sister experienced prior to arrival to the emergency department and one of my colleagues will also respond to this.

In terms of the emergency department I am sorry that there were delays to x ray, pain relief and then treatment prior to transferring to the trauma and orthopaedic ward.

I think that it would be useful if we reviewed your sisters care pathway and to also enable us to provide you with a targeted response and to see if there can be some learning from her experience. If I could ask you to please contact out patient affairs team at University Hospital Wishaw on 01698 366558 or patientaffairs.wishaw@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.

I hope that your sister is feeling better and recovering well and am sorry that this led to personal stress to your sister and parents.

Best wishes

Andy

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