why didnt they just drive her?

[NormaSmuff]

www.shorehamherald.co.uk/news/health/gran-waits-an-hour-for-ambulance-with-broken-wrist-1-7987356

I cant believe this story. Unless they are missing the part where her relatives have perhaps been drinking. Otherwise the scandal is absolutely on them.
Do you really need an ambulance for a broken wrist?

Oh bless her, she looks a state. At 74 she may be quite frail (however my dad is 71 and strong as a horse) and advice when we were dealing with my grannies was always to call emergency services as you just don't know what damage has been done.

She has had an almighty wallop by the looks of it, I'm not surprised they called. If they were told an ambulance was being sent they probably thought it was necessary so they should wait, if you see what I mean.

You wouldn't move someone at the scene of an accident, elderly people falling in their own home is no different.

It depends. The call button is often used to connect to a falls team who can come out and assist. Like I said, my Mum has one.
An elderly lady falling in winter with a broken hip and the risk of hypothermia if she's on the floor too long - of course call an ambulance.

I'm not sure you can always compare a lady who's simply broken her wrist in this case (yes I know the bruising looks bad but it doesn't always come out straight away - that's why I got a telling off of my horrified physio a week after I'd fell - you should have seen the state of my back) with moving someone after an accident. My late friend was left permantly disabled for life after some twar opened their car door on her, sent her flying, knocked her out and THEN some not so helpful passing citizen who thought he was going the right thing (was years ago) by moving her out the way of oncoming traffic.

If the Son contemplated taking her in their car/a taxi she was obviously deemed safe to move at this point. With her having a care alarm I'm guessing it's not the first time she's fallen so they'd have had experience of what to do.

You don't just get told an ambulance is being sent.

You also get told what to do whilst you wait - things like Do not move them if they cannot get up themselves , "what pain relief have they had, or do you have easily accessible", "do not eat anything", "remove or restrain any loose pets", "loosen or remove any (easily done) restrictive clothing/rings/jewellery", "clear a pathway from the most accessible entrance to the casualty".

They don't just say an ambulance will be sent, and leave you to wait. We were rung back 3 times by a medical professional to check if the situation was still stable as well.

witsender you'd be surprised. My 80yo gran is more agile than me!

My thoughts was why even call an ambulance. We do live in a pathetic society.

My thoughts was why even call an ambulance. We do live in a pathetic society

"She broke her left wrist where her thumb joins her arm, and dislocated the bones in her left hand. The grandmother’s face also swelled up and her hip was severely bruised."

She is 74, sounds serious enough for me.

Would she have been seen straight away if they'd driven her in though?

You don't get seen any quicker if you arrive by ambulance.

My own DM has just driven herself to hospital after falling a week ago and told after X rays that yes the reason her wrist was painful and it was difficult to drive was because she, too, had broken her wrist! She had to drive home and park the car and then walk/bus herself back to have a cast put on.

If a 73 year old falls from a height, has cuts and bruises to their head, is experiencing pain in hip, arm and hand, I think it completely reasonable to call for experienced help rather than start hauling her about.

I don't think they were necessarily being unreasonable to call an ambulance and let the paramedics assess her, but given that she wasn't in life-threatening danger, was conscious and had people around her, I don't think an hour's wait was worthy of a sadface article in the local press or even complaint.

On a broader point, a former colleague of mine re-trained as a paramedic and expressed the view that some people seem to regard ambulances as hospital taxis and will call them at the drop of a hat. He attended a woman in the very early stages of normal labour with no complications and whilst she was low priority they did attend. As they were putting her in the ambulance, he asked the husband if he was coming too. 'No you're alright, I follow behind you in the car' he replied.

I will concede after starting this thread that the relatives thought they were doing the right thing, by not moving her and not taking her themselves and hope the lady recovers, has recovered, well.

If you call an ambulance you are asked/told not to move the patient so perhaps they were worried about the consequences. Also, it's one of those situations where the ambulance 'could' turn up in the next min so you hang on that extra 5 which turns into longer.

Baffling why the my didn't at least get a cab with her?!

The ambulance serve were probably too busy collecting the person with a splinter, or sorting out the driver who hit the curb and thinks they have 'whiplash', or waiting outside A&E for the police to clear the drunks before they can unload someone.

DD14 dislocated her knee cap and damaged her ankle - was on the floor unable to move in severe agony. We rang for an ambulance - one of the first things they said was DO NOT MOVE HER, we will send an ambulance. It took 4 hours to get there

BeyondThePage Fucking hell. My kneecap popped out of place once - not a true dislocation, luckily - and I remember the pain. Four hours wait would have been horrendous and probably severely traumatising.

I popped it back in. No idea how, I wasn't thinking rationally at that point. Then went to A&E where I don't think anyone believed me.

"I popped it back in" - OUCH!!!

She was very brave and very "it's not exactly life threatening is it" about the wait - fair enough, but yes, she was in a lot of pain. It took an orthopaedic consultant to get hers to go back. And morphine, and gas and air...a LOT of gas and air... she's been shown how to do it "next time it happens" - the thought horrifies me