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Ambulance took 7 hours.

Posted By hawken95

"Ambulance took 7 hours."

About: Craigavon Area Hospital / 4 North Surgical Craigavon Area Hospital / Emergency Department Northern Ireland Ambulance Service / Emergency ambulance response

(as a service user),

I passed out and fell at home in the summer.

My husband rung the ambulance at 11am and they said, someone will be there as soon as they can and told me to fast. A paramedic didn't arrive until 5:15pm and the ambulance came an hour later. I felt worried as I thought I was a serious incident as my eye had blurred vision and head swollen. I waited in ED for 1.5 hours, so it took almost 24hrs before I was seen and put on a trolly. I had been fasting and just had a fall and they had me in a chair all that time. I could have fell again with low blood sugar etc...... The trolley had no pillows or anything. I was taken that night finally to the 4 North ward. The staff were excellent thanks.

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Responses

Response from Amanda Sweetlove, NIAS, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service 2 years ago
Amanda Sweetlove
NIAS,
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

Service User feedback

Submitted on 01/12/2021 at 17:53
Published on Care Opinion at 17:53

picture of Amanda Sweetlove

Dear hawken95

Thank you for sharing your less than perfect experience with us.

I am not prepared to try to offer you excuses. I can only sincerely apologise for any additional distress that may have been caused by this incident and try to reassure you of our committment to finding a solution for increased resources and also liaising with the other Trusts to try to eleminate the competing pressures both of which would facilitate an improved service.

I hope you have recovered fully from your illness and are keeping well.

Kind regards

Amanda

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Response from Paul Smyth, Interim Head of Service Emergency Departments, Acute & Emergency Medicine, Southern Health and Social Care Trust 2 years ago
Paul Smyth
Interim Head of Service Emergency Departments, Acute & Emergency Medicine,
Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 03/12/2021 at 16:08
Published on Care Opinion at 16:08

Good afternoon

We apologise you had to wait soo long before you were assessed and eventually admitted. The emergency department like most in the region is facing unprecedented pressures. There are a significant number of patients delayed every day in the emergency department waiting on admission beds. This is linked to the flow of discharges out of in-patients wards to create capacity for patients in the ED. Unfortunately when this flow through the hospital slows the emergency department becomes overcrowded and waiting times increase.

We hope that you are continuing to improve.

Regards

Paul Smyth

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