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9-hour wait for hospital ambulance home
Reporter: Gillian Potts
Date online: 05 March 2013
ELDERLY patients were left waiting more than nine hours for ambulances to take them home from the Royal Oldham Hospital.
They include an elderly blind woman whose disgusted family have called on health chiefs to ensure the “manic” situation doesn’t happen again.
Jessie Hulstone (86) went to A&E at 9.30am, on Friday, and was treated for a severe water infection before being sent to the discharge lounge at lunchtime to wait for an ambulance — which didn’t arrive for nearly nine hours.
Her daughter Mary Slicker says her arthritic mum — who had to sit in a chair as there were no spare beds — didn’t get home until 9.30pm as there were none available.
And, to make matters worse, she had to be readmitted to hospital the next day as she was suffering from dehydration.
Mary said they were told all the ambulance drivers had phoned in sick and they had to wait for a private firm to come on duty with her mum’s ambulance reportedly coming from Birmingham.
She said there were at least 11 other people waiting all day including one elderly patient on oxygen who’d been waiting since 6.30am.
“A&E were brilliant but it was horrendous in the discharge lounge because it was so busy,” said Mary.
“I just can’t get my head around what we went through, it was completely manic.”
A spokesperson for the North West Ambulance Service said” “We apologise for any distress caused during this patient’s wait for transport home, and encourage the patient or their family to contact us should they wish to discuss this further.
“The Patient Transport Service operates on a pre-planned basis; so that all journeys undertaken on a single day, are planned the day before. Therefore, all ‘on-the-day’ bookings are additional journeys which must be added to the schedule for that day. Unfortunately, on Friday, the Service did experience a high demand for patient transport journeys which may have resulted in longer waits for vehicle availability.”
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Comments
How on earth can you plan the day before the number of patients that need taking home.
There are some many variations that can happen that a system like that has to fail.
An absolute disgrace the North West Ambulance Service should hag their heads in shame.
This has happened to my elderly Mother on more than one occasion and we had to go and pick her up. Patient transport is being privatised!!! Need I say more!
And what was stopping Mary Slacker from going to the hospital and taking her mum home herself? It seems that so many people today feel they have no responsibility for their elderly parents.
I find it more disgusting that her own family left her in A&E alone, then left her to make her own way home! Before moaning at a free service that tries its best, try getting your own houses in order.... I would NEVER leave my elderly relations to fend for themselves like this....
the ambulance service do a 1st class service under increasing pressure - saddleworth id like to see you do better
This story typifies the entitlemen & 'it's not my responsibility' culture that pervades our society.
Yet again children whinging and whining about the terrible service their parents are receiving. If it is that bad why do they not do what they should be doing and 'look after their parents themselves' What a very selfish nation we have become.
If you are told that an ambulance will be taking you home, you expect that it will do so. Had the lady been told that none was available, no doubt other arrangements would have been made. Incidentally, the NHS is not a free service. We all pay every day via our various taxes and have every right to ask that we are well treated and the service is well run.
While it is not good we should consider ourselves very lucky to have a Health service that we can use at no additional cost. If we had to pay for all our medicine & treatment a lot of people would be unable to get treatment. In other countries you have to pay for ambulances (in the region of £1,300 a journey)& medicine (£50+ for antibiotics)
Family near me has 2 cars at home most days, Ambulance comes every week to pick up and drop off, some folk need to realise the struggle in times like these and stop being so selfish.
Have Your Say
As we are all aware, the NHS is at crisis point. I assume the families of these patients are not local and therefore could not give them a lift home?
By timberwolf @ 05/03/2013 13:01:43