Halstead: Neighbours’ fury as man dies in hospital after ambulance wait (From Halstead Gazette)
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Halstead: Neighbours’ fury as man dies in hospital after ambulance wait
9:00am Friday 22nd March 2013 in News
Jeanette and Trina Shelley were appalled at the ambulance response
Neighbours watched in disbelief as a man was left waiting for more than an hour and a half for an ambulance, before dying in hospital.
Ray Meadows, 76, had been suffering from chest pains and called a duty doctor to his home in Mount Pleasant, Halstead, on Sunday.
An ambulance was then called at 1.50pm, but did not arrive until 3.22pm.
Mr Meadows was taken to Colchester General Hospital, before being transferred to the specialist cardiovascular unit at Basildon Hospital, where he later died.
His close friend Jeanette Shelley, of nearby West Road, described the wait for an ambulance as “disgusting”.
Comments(2)
OMPITA [Intl]
says...
12:32pm Sun 24 Mar 13
Notwithstanding two recent reports in the Halstead Gazette highlighting serious concern about Ambulance Response Times (see archives dated 15 Dec 12 & 01 Feb 13) which incidentally resulted in no comments from Halstead contributors whatsoever, we now at long last have someone who has a valid comment to make.
Indeed it is heartening and refreshing to read Dave-Anonymous’s contribution.
He has a positive point to make and has made it well.
His holistic approach to understanding the problem clearly shows that whilst it may be complex and multi-faceted there is nevertheless one aspect which could be improved upon almost instantaneously without any impact on the taxpayer or anyone in genuine need.
It does rely however upon people adopting a mature attitude and accepting a degree of personal responsibility.
Call me an old cynic if you like, but I have deep reservations about whether this is likely to be voluntarily forthcoming.
I think that there is great merit in pursuing Dave’s aspirations on reducing the number of unwarranted calls upon the ambulance service – which would be to the benefit of genuine cases – but I fear that the £300.00 route is probably the only way it’s going to happen.
Bring it on!
Dave-Anonymous says...
11:28am Sat 23 Mar 13
With regard to the delays in Ambulance response times I am sick of hearing the Ambulance Service blamed for these. Yes, there are some problems but they are not entirely the fault of the service; they are also the fault of the hospitals and the public.
Firstly the press should go spend a few hours sitting outside their local A&E departments and see just how many Ambulances are sitting there at busy times. These vehicles are tied up at the hospital by delays in the A&E department caused by sheer numbers of patients, and the fact that some hospitals simply do not have any beds on the wards and therefore A&E cannot move deserving patients there. If A&E has no room then its as simple as that. The Ambulances cannot unload patients and are tied up for sometimes anything up to 4 hours.
I say deserving as this brings me to my second point.... I would estimate that around 60% of people who call an Ambulance do not actually need one. This can be verified by looking at the number of calls v the number of patients actually conveyed on the EEAS website. Certainly some of these people do need assistance, ie the lady with vertigo who has fallen on her way to the toilet and cannot stand unaided, but many of the calls to the Ambulance Service are a total waste of precious resources and its about time that people realized that. I have information that only this week in this area they were called out to 3 cases of flu, 2 toothaches and a number of similar ridiculous assignments. If people realized the fact that they sometimes need to take responsibility for themselves and not waste the time of the emergency services then Mr Meadows, a very deserving case, would have had far less time to wait for the Ambulance crew to help him.
Next time you are about to pick up the phone and dial 999, think to yourself, is this really an accident or emergency? Is it really life threatening or can I get in my own car and go to my own GP or out of hours service. Oh...and don't forget to top up the credit on your mobile phone. It doesn't go down well when you ring 999 because you couldn't ring your GP just because you have run out of credit or have drunk too much and cant drive. Ever heard of a Taxi? God forbid you should spend your own money as opposed to the taxpayers, to get to hospital!
Please Please Please... Stop blaming the Ambulance Service and start to look at the bigger picture. If they, like the Fire Service sent you a bill for £300 for calling them unnecessarily, then this problem would not exist!
Next time you get a splinter, stub your toe or get a bit of a cold, man up and sort it out yourself! Leave the EEAS to do what they do best....Save Lives!