An elderly woman was left waiting 40 hours for an ambulance after she fell at her home and then kept in the vehicle that was parked outside the emergency room.
According to reports, 90-year-old Daphne Syms fell at her home in Cornwall, England, on Sunday evening but emergency services did not arrive until Tuesday afternoon.
After the 27km drive to Royal Cornwall Hospital, she was kept in a vehicle overnight because of the long line in the Accident and Emergency department.
Syms’ furious son, Steven Syms, said that his mother would have died if she had a more serious accident, adding that the NHS system is ‘totally broken.’
His mother is now scheduled to have an operation on her hip after the fall.
Speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall, Mr. Syms said: “We’re literally heartbroken to see a 90-year-old woman in such distress, just sat there waiting.
“It’s the not-knowing how ill she was or whether she had broken anything. The system is totally broken.”
Mr. Syms also said that it took nine minutes of ringing before his 999 call was finally answered.
“If that was a cardiac arrest, nine minutes is much too long. It’s the end of somebody’s life,” he expressed.
Mr. Syms also said that paramedics are ‘incredible’ but they are ‘being abused and used as part of the nursing section at Royal Cornwall Hospital.’
“Paramedics are absolutely incredible people,” he went on.
“They need and want to carry on and do the job they’re trained for. The system is not deteriorating, it’s totally broken and needs to be urgently reviewed.”
Speaking to the Health Service Journal, Debbie Richards – the chief executive of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – said that the average wait for Category 2 calls in the region was ‘hovering around the 200-minute mark.’
“I am not proud to report this,” she said.
A South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson told the Telegraph: “We are sorry and upset that we were unable to provide Mr Syms’s mother with the timely response and care that she needed.
“We are working with our partners in the NHS and social care in Cornwall, to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive.”
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!