Advice needed- ambulance

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My 94 year old grandmother had a fall today at home. She has had a number of hip replacements over the years and not that steady on her feet.

She is in horrendous pain but my grandad is not strong enough to lift her up or help her. Neighbours have helped her get into a chair and am ambulance was called at 4pm. We think she has broken her hip again.

She has been waiting since. My grandad has called a number of times to chase the ambulance but they say they’re coming. Still no sign of it. My grandmother needs the toilet and cannot go as she has nobody to help lift her and so faces wetting herself.

They live in rural Suffolk, the neighbours are all elderly themselves and nobody can help lift or drive my grandmother. I’m 6 hours away and only was informed of her fall at 7pm when I called for a catch up (classic “nothing to worry about darling”) but I’m petrified she’s not going to get anyone to her anytime soon and she’s in pain. What can I do? Do we just wait it out or is there another option to get her safely to A&E?

Your poor Nan 😔 I suffered a really complex leg break a few years ago, was very lucky not to lose my foot. I waited 5hrs in the recovery position on a patio outdoors waiting for an ambulance. If I’d been moved I’d almost definitely have lost my foot, was a hideous situation that actually left me with PTSD. I also needed the toilet. I think keeping her still is the most important thing and doing everything possible to keep her warm, hydrated, as comfortable as is possible, sounds like your grandad is doing a great job 💕

When we called again they said they’ve upgraded her call to urgent and at 22:00 said they would be there within 90 mins.

I’ve called for taxi but nobody available especially when I ask for a wheelchair vehicle. They are in deepest, darkest rural Suffolk.

I talked my Grandad through the towel trick and she’s managed to have a wee- thank you to those posters. She’s upset and in pain still but she’s had as much codeine as she can now. She has a hot water bottle and is propped up with as little pressure on her hip as possible.

I’ve said if the ambulance doesn’t come in next hour then I’ll drive up- I’m just not sure what I can do, I wouldn’t be able to move her alone even if I wanted to, and to be honest given her age and previous hip issues I’d be petrified to try.

The problem is there just aren't enough ambulances or paramedics. When they're faced with multiple cardiac arrests/RTCs/stabbings/blood loss etc they have to prioritise and sadly a broken hip comes pretty low down on the list. It's absolutely awful but the anger should be directed towards our gov, not our NHS. So sorry to hear about your predicament. How worrying for you.

This isn't the generally the problem, most shifts there are plenty of ambulances and paramedics but they are all stuck outside hospital unable to offload patients due to bed blocking in hospital as result of lack of social care, nursing home spaces, and community hospitals (many of which have been closed down).

SparkleOwl65 has it right.

Even in a city ambulances can take that long. Had a case recently in my own family with a similar aged person. Maybe we can attract more people into public service jobs with improved pay and conditions.

Sorry I did read your posts but I missed the bit about him giving her painkillers already. I really hope the ambulance gets there soon you must be so worried

Aka aren't enough ambulances/paramedics (available) and they need to prioritise.

Please don't let anyone move her anymore.

Hip / pelvis fractures are really dangerous to move if you don't know what you're doing. There's lots of big blood vessels down there and it's possible that a sharp bone from a break could sever a blood vessel and cause massive blood loss internally.

Hoping the ambulance has arrived and she's getting medical attention already but it's worth stating in case she has another fall.

I hope the ambulance comes soon for her.

I live in Suffolk and the local service seems very stretched at present. When I called 999 for an ambulance last week for a lady I saw on the ground, convulsing, I was put on hold before I had a chance to say why I was calling.

A later call by another passer by was answered by a person who asked if it was ok to put him on hold. He said no, and after asking questions and giving details of the lady’s wristbands an ambulance arrived within a few minutes.
We were only a few minutes away from the ambulance station.
I have no idea of the likely wait to get to a rural location.

I know you shouldn’t have to do this but have you thought about appealing for help from someone with a wheelchair compatible vehicle on local social media?

Best wishes.

Maybe social media is not a good idea in view of the information in the post above ( which wasn’t there when I started typing).

Call the nearest hospital and ask to speak to sb who can help. I'd be out of my mind if that happened to me.

Thanks all, she was finally attended to by an ambulance at just after 11:30pm. She’s been moved with use of gas and air and is on her way to hospital.

That waiting time is awful !! Hope she is on the mend soon.

Good luck to your grandma!

This is absolutely appalling and inhumane. I know it’s not the paramedics or call handlers fault at all, but I really do despair when this is the best we can offer.

hope she’s okay OP.

A friend of mine who is disabled waited 15hours last week
hr had fell over and because of his disabilities could not get up

Not sure why we were so desperate to get her into hospital, she’s sat on a trolley all night with no pain relief with a suspected broken thigh, and has also wet herself again as nobody to help her go to the toilet. The NHS is broken.

For those of you urging the op to keep calling - please don't do this. You only delay the call handlers from answering other, potentially life threatening calls

Repeatedly calling won't speed things up, calls are categorised and dealt with as soon as they have crews available - unless the patient has any new or worsening symptoms then please don't call again

I'm glad they got to her eventually. I have friends in rural Suffolk as we used to live there, and ambulances are really slow at the moment. One is a nurse and she was told a minimum 2 hour wait for an ambulance for an unconscious, fitting patient last week and was asked if there was a nearby defibrillator by the call handler as the ambulance wouldn't get there in time if things deteriorated. It's really bad. Hope your grandmother is comfier by now and being looked after.

I know your Nan is in hospital now but this comment from the 1st reply:

I don’t know if a care agency could help? Thats probably what I’d try and call round a few

Do not do this. Carers are not medically trained and if a client falls when they are with a carer or a carer finds a fallen client, we aren’t allowed to move them, bar use cushions for support.

Plus it’s not quite as simple as rocking up to an address as a one-off to help a fallen individual who isn’t registered with the care agency. That was really poor advice suggested by the person who posted the comment.

It’s a very bad state of affairs.