Woman, 97, waited over 12 hours for ambulance in Worcester

Christine Swan said her mum Hilda, 97, of Battenhall, Worcester, first called for an ambulance at 4.45pm as she could not get out of bed at her home in Battenhall.

However, the ambulance did not arrive until 5.15am on Tuesday with ambulance bosses saying the NHS remains 'under severe pressure'.

The elderly woman's carer and daughter feared the 97-year-old had suffered a stroke. 

Mrs Swan did not blame NHS staff but said: "The whole situation has been so stressful on us.

"Mum was ill for the past few days before she needed the ambulance.

"She normally loves to get up and around the house or watch birds in the garden and instead she just could not get out of bed which was very unusual.

"Her carers suggested we call NHS 111 and we could not get through, so I instead called her GP who suggested that we call for an ambulance.

"We called at 4.45pm and they told us we were likely to expect a vehicle to arrive in the early hours of the morning. 

"I suspect she was probably viewed as non-urgent at the time based on her symptoms at the time of call, which usually should take around three hours, but in fact, we were waiting for 12 hours."

Christine Swan.

Waiting for an ambulance for Mum. It's been 3 hours. They've told me they might get there in the early morning. There are 48 people in the queue. Mum is 97 years old. No words. #SaveOurNHS

— Christine Swan (@chris_swan) May 9, 2022

Due to Hilda's age, she can only be lifted out of bed via a hoist, which requires two people to operate.

They woke me up sleeping, head on hands, sitting on a kitchen chair at about 05:15. Couldn't get any sense out of me ( can anyone ever?) Still, she will soon be on her way to hospital thankfully, finally. Not to Worcester, ambulances queuing for 8 hours.

— Christine Swan (@chris_swan) May 10, 2022

Hilda was rehydrated at the hospital and discharged on Tuesday evening, but had to go back to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch on Wednesday morning after just a ten-minute wait for an ambulance.

Mrs Swan said: "It just goes to show that all of the NHS workers and staff are in no way to blame for this situation, they are working as hard as they can with what they are given.

"I have to point a finger at our government who knew that these issues were coming and yet the NHS is so underfunded and neglected."

West Midlands Ambulance Service.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure and unfortunately, hospital handover delays mean some patients are waiting longer for an ambulance to come to them than we would want. 

“Our staff and volunteers work tirelessly to respond as soon as we can and we continue to work with local partners to find ways to reduce the delays so that our crews can respond more quickly.”