Pensioner left lying on floor for five hours with a suspected broken hip, awaiting the arrival of the ambulance. 74-year-old man was not able to move, reports the Daily Mail.
On Thursday, around 22:00, John McCallum from Edinburgh performed physical therapy exercises when suddenly fell, damaging the hip. An elderly man who previously suffered a stroke, was unable to get up and even move, experiencing severe pain. His girlfriend, Jane Clark, an ambulance was called at 22:30, however, the brigade arrived at 3:20, despite the fact that the nearest ambulance station is just a few mile from their home.
The incident has outraged the government of Scotland, whose representatives called the long wait «totally unacceptable.» They called the Scottish ambulance service to begin an immediate investigation, saying that the service «must draw conclusions.»
Jane is outraged by the behavior of representatives of the ambulance service — in her words, they do not give detailed answers to questions and «read the script». The woman was the only help for John, who couldn’t move — she had to give the man a bottle, as he was not able to visit the restroom.
«I really resent being forced to put up with this service, someone must be responsible for it. «says Jane. «I do not blame the ambulance service, they just don’t have enough people. But this is not acceptable, when on the floor lies five hours someone his age.»
Jane said that the state refuses to take responsibility and blames the healthcare system. In turn, representatives of the Scottish government apologized for the incident:
«We very much regret the suffering experienced by Mr. McCallum and his family. The delay in this case was completely unacceptable, and the Minister of health expects that the ambulance service of Scotland will provide a full explanation of this delay to her and to the family of Mr. McCallum. The service will contact Mr. McCallum, to apologize, and will conduct an urgent investigation to ensure that lessons learned from this case apply to the Service.»
They also added that to date, the government has already started work to resolve issues within the ambulance service by a national review of demand and capacity, which will improve the service.
«We are very sorry about the delay with the answer for this patient.» — said a spokesman for the Scottish ambulance service. «We are always keen to receive patients so that patients with life-threatening receive the fastest response. We will fully investigate the circumstances.»
