An 81-year-old man was taken to hospital by a former hospitality worker after being told he was facing a 13 hour wait for an ambulance.
Out for a walk, Christine Baron helped rescue Trevor Whitehead from Fairheaven Lake in Blackpool on December 6, after he fell into the water while walking his dogs.
He drove Mr Whitehead to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in his car after being told by paramedics working for the North West Ambulance Service that there would be a 13-hour wait for a vehicle.
“They asked me, ‘Is there someone who can take you to the hospital, because we are so busy?’ And when we arrived there were loads of ambulances stacked up, many of them waiting to take people to the hospital, but there are no free beds,” he said. to The Telegraph.
However, they faced a 6 hour wait in the ER, where there were only two open seats, Baron said. “[Mr Whitehead] he was drenched and shivering in a wheelchair, and his partner set off to get extra blankets. After that, they took him in after about 20 minutes.”
“I am very lucky that Chris is such a wonderful woman”
Whitehead was walking his two dogs around Fairhaven Lake and stopped to look for his “favorite ducks.”
“I really shouldn’t have gone down the slope,” he told The Telegraph. “It was really muddy and I slipped and fell in the water, it was really horrible. But I’m so lucky that Chris is such a wonderful woman.”
Two men, including a fellow dog walker and an employee from the nearby ice cream stand, also rushed to help and pulled Mr. Whitehead out of the water.
His left arm is broken in two places and he has sustained damage to his shoulder.
Currently in a sling, Mr Whitehead was told to expect a wait of more than two weeks for surgery and was reportedly advised by a nurse to “go private to be seen”.
‘They shouldn’t tell me to go private’
Whitehead’s partner, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s absolutely shocking – she’s in agony, her arm is swollen like a balloon and I had to push really hard to get the pain out of the dress.
“It shouldn’t be like this: an NHS nurse shouldn’t need to tell me to go private, but we are seriously considering it.”
Recent pictures taken outside Blackpool Victoria Hospital show 14 ambulances queued up outside the A&E departmentwith delays in delivering patients to wards caused by a shortage of beds.
A North West Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The health service as a whole is experiencing significant pressure. During these busy periods, hospital delivery waits can become challenging.
“We are working closely with our hospital colleagues across the region to help get emergency teams out as quickly as possible and respond to other patients.
“Any patient who waits longer than we would like is monitored with the emergency department clinical team informed of any changes in their condition in order to prioritize them correctly.
“We are grateful to patients for considering alternatives for non-urgent health issues, including NHS 111 online, GP or local pharmacy, which helps us keep our ambulances available for emergencies.”
According to Telegraph’s analysis of England’s NHS statistics, the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Salford Royal along with The Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, is the worst trust in the country for lockdown. Beds.
Recent figures suggest that every day, 92.4 percent of patients who are ready to go home end up staying. On the last day of October, of the 285 patients ready to go, only 25 did.
