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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think a 101 year old should not wait on the floor for an ambulance for 2 hours

129 replies

ScottishG · 09/09/2018 23:10

My lovely grandfather, aged 101 had a fall in the early hours of this morning. He has a care alarm which he pressed. My parents, who usually help him out we're away, so a neighbour was contacted by the careline. She went to his house and found him on the floor, cold and a bit confused but otherwise seemingly ok. Careline caller advised that grandfather should be kept still on the floor and neighbour should not attempt to get him up. Careline called for an ambulance. TWO HOURS later paramedics arrived. He was given a thorough check, helped up and settled back into bed. Paramedics are very apologetic about the wait.
I am not in any way complaining about the kind, professional paramedics who helped him.
AIBU though to think a 101 year old on the floor should not be such a low priority that he has to wait for 2 hours?

OP posts:

Potentialpoochowner · 09/09/2018 23:14

I’m really sorry to hear that. I sometimes wonder if the older folks are bumped down the list of priorities in some situations. Wishing your grandfather all the best for a speedy recovery.

LyndorCake · 09/09/2018 23:18

Same sort of thing has just happened to my 94 years old grandma.
She's been in and out of hospital recently due to internal bleeding. She had a bad turn and at 10pm my grandad was on the phone with 999. Ambulance didn't arrive until 3am. My grandad didn't want to bother any of us at such a daft time, he was so upset and we were all devastated the next morning when we found out. She is still in hospital now.

NicoAndTheNiners · 09/09/2018 23:23

Sadly there are that few ambulances these days that while he would have been a priority over quite a few others the chest pains, car accidents, potential strokes, major bleeding, struggling to breath will take priority over him.

I’ve spent shifts working with ambulance crews before and we’ve been the only ambulance available in the county, and it’s one of the biggest counties in the country.

I’ve known suspected strokes have to wait over two hours which makes a mockery of the golden hour. Women having a home birth needing urgent transfer waiting well over an hour. Most of the time the ambulances are queued outside a&e unable to offload as a&e is full.

SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning · 09/09/2018 23:23

YANBU at all but sadly, one of my thoughts was that I was not surprised. I worked with older people for quite a few years. It’s sad and disgraceful but it doesn’t shock me any more because I’ve heard it too many times. :(

How is he now?

Fucksgiven · 09/09/2018 23:24

Not life threatening then if didn't need taking to hospital. Unfortunately there may have been a lot of calls who were more urgent.

avamiah · 09/09/2018 23:25

Hi ScottishG,
I’m sorry to hear this happened.
I take it he lives alone as my mum used to live in a retirement apartment with which was manned 24 hours by careline .

RosalieDene · 09/09/2018 23:26

Sadly this is in no way unusual - at busy times 2 hours for a non injury fall is quite fast.

It's awful but serious medical emergencies have to take priority. Nobody likes it that way but it's the only way to help people in serious distress.

Charliecatpaws · 09/09/2018 23:26

Unfortunately this is seen as ‘non-life threating’ and therefore will not be high priority. This shouldn’t be happening, however, unfortunately ambulance services receive more calls year on year and can’t keep up with demand, it’s a very sooty state all round

SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning · 09/09/2018 23:27

Some areas have tried a service where they send people out to elderly fallers if there’s no injury but they need someone to lift them safely. This frees up the ambulance service and an Occupational Therapist or physiotherapist does an immediate assessment to help prevent further falls. It works really well.

Charliecatpaws · 09/09/2018 23:27

*sorry not sooty -doh!

Fucksgiven · 09/09/2018 23:27

Could you help to look after him?

annandale · 09/09/2018 23:28

The system is really bunged up. Hope your gf is doing ok.

Alonglongway · 09/09/2018 23:29

That’s hard. My dad had a load of falls before he went into nursing home. I remember paramedics tellling us their protocol made him a lower priority because the person on the floor but basically ok isn’t going anywhere.

Our local alarm scheme have a mobile team who come out and pick the person up. Dad only used it a couple of times but it was excellent

Hope he’s ok

Darkstar4855 · 09/09/2018 23:30

YANBU but sadly there are just not enough resources to go around and they have to prioritise the most life threatening calls.

DianaBlythe · 09/09/2018 23:31

Absolutely shouldn’t be happening but absolutely does. The ambulance service particularly are in meltdown.

It’s an awful chain too, they’ll often be sitting outside hospital unable to hand over care because no space/staff to do it so they’re treating people on the ambulance.

We had someone become unwell in a part of the hospital which is usually closed in the evening. Patient started on oxygen and fluids and needed to come in to hospital, couldn’t bring them across as no bed available, can’t give oxygen and fluids in waiting areas, ambulances backed up outside. Nurses stayed several hours late as no other option. Happens what feels like just about every shift. And this is still summer.

The system feels very broken.

I’m very sorry to hear about your poor elderly grandfather being stuck like that. He must have been so cold and frightened. Hope he is recovering.

PurpleWithRed · 09/09/2018 23:34

The target for an assist only fall like your grandfather is 90% should be attended in either 2 or 3 hours (depending on how it’s categorised), regardless of his age. These are national standards: we all need to decide if they are acceptable and if they aren’t then we need to kick up a fuss to the nhs to get our voices heard.

5 hours for your granny Lyndor sounds like they were totally overstretched as it’s well outside any target. Again, not acceptable, and I hope she recovers soon. Have you considered asking for an explanation from the ambulance service?

Bumdishcloths · 09/09/2018 23:37

Someone on the floor, with no apparent injuries or bleeding, is a low priority regardless of their advanced years. If there's a question mark over injuries etc then of course it's a higher priority call, but if it's just a case of needing to get someone up safely then there are far, far higher priority calls that have to be dealt with first. For care providers, policy usually dictates that care workers can't assist people from the floor as it's a danger to the individual and also to the worker. Care workers do stuff they're not meant to for health and safety reasons ALL the time to help their clients, but someone on the floor, you just don't fuck about with.

Runrunrudolf · 09/09/2018 23:37

Sadly there seems to be less and less ambulances available these days, they have waiting times now just like a doctors and tests :/

Definitely must of been a frightening experience for him I'm really sorry and hope he's recovering

PonderLand · 09/09/2018 23:39

Yanbu. It shouldn't be happening but I really don't know what the answer is. I'm glad that he wasn't alone and he had an alarm to get help, I hope he's okay.

nocoolnamesleft · 09/09/2018 23:42

Seen worse delays than that. Of the ended up in intensive care variety. Fucking cuts.

BlackeyedSusan · 09/09/2018 23:45

my mum had to wait 8 hours for an ambulance with suspected stroke. treat ment shouldbe received in 1 hour.

BlackeyedSusan · 09/09/2018 23:45

oh and yadnbu

Fluffyears · 09/09/2018 23:47

It’s low priority, his age isn’t relevant, as long as he’s conscious and uninjured he is seen as safe. It sounds hard but we waited 3 hours when my father with MS had a bad fall, he split his scalp and webstill had to wait. No way of getting him to hospital other than by ambulance as he couldn’t get in/out of a car easily.

HotRocker · 09/09/2018 23:49

OP the NHS cuts are really biting, and we don’t really realise how they affect things like ambulances unless we have to use them. I was shocked when I called an ambulance for myself a couple of years ago and it took over an hour to arrive. I was in and out of consciousness but not in pain thankfully. A couple of months ago I had to call an ambulance for myself again. It was more serious this time so categorised as an emergency. They rang me back after five or six minutes to say that the ETA was in 19 minutes time. I lost consciousness a minute or two after so I don’t know how long it took, but by their own reckoning it would have been 24–25 minutes, and I live in a city, 2 miles away from the hospital, and it was a Wednesday lunchtime.
It’s scary because we imagine that if anything happens an ambulance will arrive within a few minutes, but the reality is very different, and the time we come to understand this is when we are already anxious and scared.
OP I’m sorry your grandfather had to wait so long. I hope he’s feeling a bit better and a bit more comfortable now.

Fluffyears · 09/09/2018 23:50

My parents live opposite the ambulance station....3 hours!

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