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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 06:40

Agree though that in your own home a visit cannot take priority, they are safe, in the warm

LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 06:40

good idea bbbbb

Fairylea · 10/09/2018 06:50

This is really sad and no way should an elderly person be waiting that long for help but at the same time no one knows what other emergencies the ambulance service had to deal with.

We live in an area where there is an ageing population and there is actually a service set up by the local council where you ring a number and a team of carers come out and help if an elderly person has fallen. I’m not sure how it’s all funded etc but people think it’s very good.

People shouldn’t lie and say that someone has hit their head etc if they know they haven’t as you don’t know what other situations someone might be ringing 999 in - I wouldn’t want to lie and have an ambulance diverted from a choking child or someone having a heart attack. You just never know.

LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 06:57

No but by saying You are unsure if they hit their head or hurt their hip could make a difference, and still be truthful

londonrach · 10/09/2018 07:01

Yanbu but someone whos having a heart attack will be seen first. A fall is lower priority to someones whos life is at risk. It shouldnt happen but lack of ambulances and more people needing them means they have to prioritise those at risk of dying first. Hope your grandfather is ok. There was a very interesting series on iplayer recently about the ambulances and seeing the staff decide who gets the ambulance. X

hazeyjane · 10/09/2018 07:01

Lying is an awful idea, and what do you do when triaged at the hospital? Continue the lie, potentially leading to unnecessary treatment?

I waited for an hour and a half with ds, having suffered a burn, it was horrendous and the paramedic apologised as he said he didn't know why it had taken so long.

I hope your grandfather is ok, and I hope that a system is put in place to help falls victims as I understand this is a growing problem with ambulance services.

Jimdandy · 10/09/2018 07:04

I agree he shouldn’t.

But whilst people continue to abuse the NHS there’s going to be a shortage of services.

Getting stuff on prescription rather than just paying for it, going to the Docs for every tiny sniffle instead of seeing a pharmacist or taking home remedies, turning up in A and E for things that clearly should go through their GP, calling ambulances to use as transport instead of making their own way to the hospital...

The NHS is badly managed with unnecessary bureaucracy, paperwork, old fashioned medical records etc

It’s about time it was dragged into the 21st century, people stopped abusing it beyond all belief and it was sorted once and for all.

I’m really sorry for your neighbour, but what happened to them was not life threatening, so as awful as it is, and I wouldn’t like it, if there’s someone in life threatening danger they’re going to come first.

maggienolia · 10/09/2018 07:11

Two hours is actually quite short. Round here the wait is closer to five hours.
I've had to call 999 for a gent with severe chest pain who had already had a heart attack.
45 minute wait. And they sent the wrong ambulance so they had to wait another hour to get him to hospital.
Golden hour my arse.
This is the same trust that is currently cancelling pre booked hospital transport on the day and telling those individuals to " cancel your appointment or pay for a taxi".

LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 07:13

But people are right to get things on prescription of they are struggling to pay

Undercoverbanana · 10/09/2018 07:23

The heart attacks, RTAs, babies that stop breathing, victims of violent attacks etc are higher on the list than someone who is not in immediate danger, is at floor level and is accompanied, however old they are. Not ideal, but realistic. The only way to guarantee first place in the queue would be to have your own private ambulance on standby.

I hope Grandad is ok. So lovely to hear that he has a good neighbour.

pretendingtowork1 · 10/09/2018 07:23

cold and a bit confused but otherwise seemingly ok.

ambulances are under huge stresses - I have to say that in this case with no obvious injuries and if your parents could get him up without injuring themselves I'd have done that. He is sadly going to be behind anyone with a heart attack, stroke, acute medical need etc. and also behind those elderly patients who have fallen and broken a bone.

TheFairyCaravan · 10/09/2018 07:24

Perhaps you could write to your MP OP to let them know that due to the cuts across the ambulance service your gf was left on the floor for 2 hours. I would.

On the plus side, DS1 had to call an ambulance last week after a colleague had an accident at work which left him with head and facial injuries. It was there within 5 minutes.

Hannahmates · 10/09/2018 07:25

Wow, 2 hours?? YANBU! You should file a complain so that they can figure why it took so long to respond. Hope you grandfather is recovering well. Ambulances are there to respond to emergency situations. Waiting two hours could have caused someone to die.

CantankerousCamel · 10/09/2018 07:27

More people should be able to assess injuries, isolate a hip or shoulder and move a person temporarily into bed. This idea that everyone should stay completely still while the ambulances are overrun is absurd

OhTheRoses · 10/09/2018 07:29

Sadly some of this is due to the idiocy of the combined services. Our neighbours mum fell down their stone steps breaking her elbow and hip. Both breaks needed xray (obvs) and surgery.

The ambulance took her to Epsom Hospital as legally obliged to take to closest. EH does not deal with trauma or emergency orthopaedics. Therefore an 83 year old woman spent 8 hours on a trolley with inadequate pain relief wairing to be transferrred to St Helier where she could be x-rayed and admitted.

Please tell me how that isn't a perfect example of the system behaving with absolute idiocy and scant regard for the appropriate use of its own scarce resources.

The NHS wasted an ambulance, wasted a trolley, wasted triage and wasted nursing checks as well as massively distressing totally unnecessarily a lady, badly injured and in her 80s, notwithstanding wasting 10-12 hours of her familiy's tume.

That wasn't about money, it was about mismanagement. If there's that much sheer idiocy going on by so called highly trained prifessionals, I don't want to give it any more resources to mismanage.

Fairylea · 10/09/2018 07:29

For balance, I’ve been in a situation where a 90 year old woman collapsed in front of me in the queue in the bank (I know how old she was because we checked the ID she had as we rang 999). The ambulance arrived in 8 mins. She was unconscious and had hit her head on the hard floor. So if there is a genuine emergency they will show up very quickly in my own experience- but I do think maybe postcard lottery comes into it too.

tillytop · 10/09/2018 07:32

What is the "golden hour" anyone? Sorry, I've not heard of this.

SnuggyBuggy · 10/09/2018 07:34

This may not go down well but wouldn't he be better in a residential home where there are people all the time?

LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 07:36

At 101?
I dont this is the right place for that discussion

Undercoverbanana · 10/09/2018 07:38

Snuggy - the ambulance would still take 2 hours though.

SnuggyBuggy · 10/09/2018 07:39

No but the situation with ambulances taking so long isn't going to resolve any time soon.

SnuggyBuggy · 10/09/2018 07:39

But wouldn't there be carers who could potentially supervise and use hoists to help him back up?

LittleBookofCalm · 10/09/2018 07:39

In a residential home they still wouldnt pick him up off the floor and would have to wait

SnuggyBuggy · 10/09/2018 07:41

That's a bit crap given how much money they charge.

Sleephead1 · 10/09/2018 07:41

hope your grandad is ok I work in a surgery sometimes we have to ring a ambulance for the doctors sometimes it's 999 for heart attack ECT sometimes it's for within 1 hour 2 hours ECT for something still serious but not life threatening if they can't meet the protocol they ring back to tell the doctor they can't get to the patient yet obviously in our case they are in a doctor's surgery. If they have urgent calls heart attack , stroke, car accident ECT they have to go to them first over a fall and I think the service is just so over stretched now. I hope your grandad is better now