NORTH WEST Ambulance Service has apologised after a pensioner waited 53 minutes for an emergency ambulance to take her to hospital.
Thomas Farrall, 79, of Bates Lane, Helsby, says his wife Margaret, who has ongoing health problems, began shaking uncontrollably at home on Monday, November 8.
Mr Farrall, a retired engineer, dialled 999 at 8.17pm, but it took 40 minutes for a paramedic to arrive in a fast response car. The medic suspected Mrs Farrell had suffered a stroke although a hospital doctor later suggested a small blood clot had passed through her brain.
It was not until 9.10pm, 53 minutes after the 999 call, that an ambulance arrived which could take Mrs Farrall, 77, to the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Recalling the initial 999 call, Mr Farrall said: “They implied the ambulance was on its way when it was not. If you are in the situation of waiting for an ambulance the stress levels rise by the minute.”
His wife’s condition deteriorated with no sign of the ambulance so more 999 calls were lodged at 8.33pm and 8.41pm. Then at 8.43pm Mr Farrall’s granddaughter, who by this stage had gone round to her grandparents’ home, rang 999 fearing her grandmother had stopped breathing.
The ambulance service says the call was then upgraded to a ‘category A’ as it was considered life-threatening, but the fast response car did not arrive for a further 14 minutes – the target being eight minutes.
Ambulance spokeswoman Julie Treharne conveyed her “sincere apologies” to the Farralls following an investigation, although she incorrectly stated the patient had suffered a fall and was at a different address. She said all ambulances within a reasonable distance were busy.
