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A 90-year-old lady was left in the van overnight as it was parked outside A&E after waiting for an ambulance for 40 hours.
On Sunday night, Daphne Syms collapsed at her Saint Austell, Cornwall, home; nevertheless, emergency personnel did not arrive to assist her until Tuesday afternoon.
The elderly, who had travelled 17 miles to Royal Cornwall Hospital with a suspected broken hip, spent the night waiting outside because there was a line in the Accident & Emergency department.
The NHS system is “completely broken,” according to her son Steven Syms, who also claimed that his mother would have “died” if she had had a more catastrophic accident at home.
She will soon have surgery for her hip.
According to Mr. Syms of BBC Radio Cornwall, “We’re absolutely horrified to watch a 90-year-old lady in such misery, simply sitting there waiting.”
It’s the uncertainty around her condition and if she had sustained any injuries. The system is completely unworkable.
He said that his 999 phone rang for nine minutes before someone picked up.
Nine minutes is much too long if there was a heart arrest; it’s the end of someone’s life, her son said.
Instead of concentrating on emergency call-outs, Mr. Syms said that paramedics are “being misused and utilised as part of the nursing division at Royal Cornwall Hospital.”
He said, “Paramedics are just great individuals.” “They need to continue and wish to do the work for which they were trained.”
“The system is completely dysfunctional and requires immediate revision; it is not getting worse.”
The Treatment Quality Commission cautioned that “substantial effort” is needed to address issues with emergency care in Cornwall in a report dated June.
The typical wait time for Category 2 calls in the area, according to Debbie Richards, chief executive of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is “hovering around the 200-minute level.”
She said to the Health Service Journal, “I am not proud to reveal this.”
In several instances, the paramedics’ delayed reaction forced GPs to treat patients urgently.
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust issued the following statement to the Telegraph: “We are sorry and disappointed that we were unable to provide Mr. Syms’s mother the prompt attention and care she required.
“We are doing all we can to enhance the service that patients get, working with our partners in the NHS and social care in Cornwall.”
Teams “work together,” according to a representative for the integrated care system for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to help persons who need care.
According to NHS statistics for the last month, England had its second-ever average ambulance wait time above 59 minutes for Category 2 calls, which include heart attack and stroke sufferers.
The maximum wait time is 18 minutes, which is more than three times this amount.
Last month, the average wait time for an ambulance for the most critical 999 calls reached a new high of nine minutes. Seven minutes is the goal time.
A 90-year-old lady was left in the van overnight as it was parked outside A&E after waiting for an ambulance for 40 hours.
On Sunday night, Daphne Syms collapsed at her Saint Austell, Cornwall, home; nevertheless, emergency personnel did not arrive to assist her until Tuesday afternoon.
The elderly, who had travelled 17 miles to Royal Cornwall Hospital with a suspected broken hip, spent the night waiting outside because there was a line in the Accident & Emergency department.
The NHS system is “completely broken,” according to her son Steven Syms, who also claimed that his mother would have “died” if she had had a more catastrophic accident at home.
She will soon have surgery for her hip.
According to Mr. Syms of BBC Radio Cornwall, “We’re absolutely horrified to watch a 90-year-old lady in such misery, simply sitting there waiting.”
It’s the uncertainty around her condition and if she had sustained any injuries. The system is completely unworkable.
He said that his 999 phone rang for nine minutes before someone picked up.
Nine minutes is much too long if there was a heart arrest; it’s the end of someone’s life, her son said.
Instead of concentrating on emergency call-outs, Mr. Syms said that paramedics are “being misused and utilised as part of the nursing division at Royal Cornwall Hospital.”
He said, “Paramedics are just great individuals.” “They need to continue and wish to do the work for which they were trained.”
“The system is completely dysfunctional and requires immediate revision; it is not getting worse.”
The Treatment Quality Commission cautioned that “substantial effort” is needed to address issues with emergency care in Cornwall in a report dated June.
The typical wait time for Category 2 calls in the area, according to Debbie Richards, chief executive of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is “hovering around the 200-minute level.”
She said to the Health Service Journal, “I am not proud to reveal this.”
In several instances, the paramedics’ delayed reaction forced GPs to treat patients urgently.
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust issued the following statement to the Telegraph: “We are sorry and disappointed that we were unable to provide Mr. Syms’s mother the prompt attention and care she required.
“We are doing all we can to enhance the service that patients get, working with our partners in the NHS and social care in Cornwall.”
Teams “work together,” according to a representative for the integrated care system for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to help persons who need care.
According to NHS statistics for the last month, England had its second-ever average ambulance wait time above 59 minutes for Category 2 calls, which include heart attack and stroke sufferers.
The maximum wait time is 18 minutes, which is more than three times this amount.
Last month, the average wait time for an ambulance for the most critical 999 calls reached a new high of nine minutes. Seven minutes is the goal time.