A 99-year-old woman was left lying on the floor with a broken collarbone for more than three hours despite five 999 calls.
Gladys Jakins fell in her sheltered housing flat in Luton on November 13, and pressed her emergency buttom for a carer to assist, but they were unable to move her and she had to wait from 11.04am until 2.11pm for paramedics.
The great-grandmother is now being treated at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital, where doctors found she had also suffered a heart attack.
Her daughter Susan Jackson, 63, said: “It’s a disgrace. The carer said my mum’s head had been stuck between the sink and bath, her legs were all twisted and she just kept shouting ‘help me, help me’. The carers aren’t allowed to lift her up so there was nothing they could do. My husband and I were away at the time and when we came back we found out what had happened. It was quite a shock when we saw her in hospital covered in bruises.”
Fortunately there was a district nurse in the vicinity who was able to put a pillow behind Mrs Jakins’ head and a blanket over her to make her more comfortable while they waited.
Mrs Jackson, who cares for her mother, said: “It’s a long time to be waiting for an ambulance. She will be 100 in February, this is just not good enough. I was angry, to think it took that long. She was in pain, her arm was behind her back and she’d hurt her back. The doctors say she had a heart attack but we don’t know if that happened before or after the call.
“The paramedics were very good with her when they arrived and she is being well looked after now.”
East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson Gary Sanderson said the initial call was graded as ‘Green 4’, which means it is ‘not life-threatening’ and requires a response or phone assessment within 60 minutes. The following four calls were also graded as Green 4.
He said the control room clinician spoke with the district nurse who was present, who apparently said there were no injuries and the patient was fully conscious and breathing.
Mr Sanderson said: “We do our very best to get to patients in an appropriate timeframe, but sometimes this is a challenge if we’re very busy elsewhere with more serious cases.
“The Trust is however currently planning resources better to fit in with where and when demand lies in an effort to improve response times. “
Mrs Jakins’ family have made a formal compalint to the ambulance service.