To wonder if this doesn't upset you, nothing will

[ThirdWorld]

I've name changed for this as it's very identifying.

I live in a small village and and as a treat after a long hard day at work popped into my local pub for dinner.

Lying on the floor was an elderly woman. She was covered with a warm blanket. She had tripped and fallen at lunchtime, and obviously badly hurt herself.

An ambulance was called at 12:30, she is still lying there in the middle of the pub waiting for an ambulance.

I've obviously read about how broken our NHS is and even read the thread on here where a poster had written about her aunt who had fallen and was waiting for about 12 hours for an ambulance. But reading about it and actually seeing it for real is even more heartbreaking.

This poor old woman has been lying on a cold wooden floor for 7 hours! The owners and bar staff have been amazing and are looking after her. Well as much as they can.

I can't tell you how useless I feel. There is nothing anyone can do. The woman has obviously been refusing food or fluid in fear of wetting herself.

I know from reading the thread I mentioned previously that there is nothing anyone can do but wait.

As we left they were getting her a pad to relieve herself. In the middle of a pub!!!

This is 21st century Britain! I don't know what I'm expecting from this thread, am tempted to call the local press to see if the publicity could hurry things along, but that would probably be even more humiliating for her.

This woman has no family and is cold, miserable and in pain lying in the middle of a pub.

I just can't believe our country has fallen to this. God knows when an ambulance will arrive. She will end up getting more dehydrated and probably go into shock. And there is nothing anyone can do.

So distressing to see and my heart bleeds for the poor woman. Just prey that none of your relatives ever have a fall.

Let's hope an ambulance comes soon.

My partner’s 85 year old granny fell down the stairs during the ambulance strikes and they initially said she’d have to wait for an ambulance. His grandpa went mad as she’d hit her head and was bleeding badly so they sent a paramedic in a car who triaged and said she needed an ambulance immediately.

She’s right as rain now but it made me feel very worried for all the people who don’t have someone to advocate for them and very sad for the poor 999 call handlers who must feel helpless and take so much abuse right now.

it made me feel very worried for all the people who don’t have someone to advocate for them

I've had a very similar experience where I was the "advocate" in that situation and it scared the hell out of me because if I'd not been there, the individual would have been left unseen for hours, given up trying to be seen and probably died.

It panicked me because I realised if I had been the person needing emergency services, I would have been incapable of advocating for myself and would have been alone in the same situation. If it had been me, I would have died as I'd not have

It's not right to have a system that partly depends on having someone to make a case on your behalf as to whether you get seen, how quickly you get seen and whether you get medical treatment in time to achieve anything.

Is TossInSomeGrapes a troll, or is there a real person out there saying 'elderly women' shouldn't be allowed in pubs?

Who will Toss come for next?

@Bandanadrama

Do you think they're sitting in the station dunking buscuits in their tea??

you're fine with someone else dying while the ambulance is diverted to this lady?

My 95 year old gran passed away in 2015 and was in and out of hospital for the years leading up to that due to falls - to the troll old people fall anywhere whether they are at home with a carer or in the local pub while they get some company

Anyway back in 2014/15 we were shocked at how long my gran had to wait to get admitted to a ward after being assessed in A&E. We didn’t realise then how lucky we were as ambulance turned up pretty much straight away, she was seen to reasonably quickly and yes she had to wait for a bed but it was a couple of hours and she was quite comfy on a stretcher so no big hardship in hindsight

Luxury experience compared to now and what people like that lady in the pub is dealing with.

Pubs cannot afford to close for god knows how long!

There's a lot of truth in this, but I also think that sometimes not being able to get a GP appt is part of the problem. People end up going to A&E out of desperation.

But there are some complete asshats, like my neighbour whose husband called an ambulance when she fell down the stairs pissed and gashed her arm on a radiator. We have a minor injuries unit barely 10 minutes walk away, and I would gladly have given them a lift and picked them up again afterwards. (I have made sure they know this, and that they've got my number!)

What did seem a bit daft was that the ambulance wasn't allowed to take them to minor injuries, but had to take them to A&E 8 miles away, where they had to wait 2 hours on the ambulance before there was room for them to be dropped off. If the ambulance had been able to drop them at minor injuries, it would have been back on the road in no time.

@DiDinosaurus123 ringing for updates just prevents call handlers from taking other emergency calls. It won't get you an ambulance any quicker

And lying to get an ambulance is fucking disgusting. Let's hope you never need to call one for a cardiac arrest and it doesn't turn up in time because it has been sent to someone like you who has lied

Have they been ringing for updates

There's nothing to be gained by that. It won't get an ambulance sooner & to get an update you have to call 999 & then tie up a call handler who should be dealing with someone who needs them

I honestly think the next mn info campaign should be 'don't lie to get attention quicker' am appalled by people who are.

@Honeyroar my husband is an NHS doctor. He’d disagree with you to put it mildly. The state of the NHS in 2010 post Labour was a million times better than now.

Give him a few beers and the anti Tory rant about the NHS is quite breathtaking.

If people like you continue to believe that Labour was as bad as the Tories then we’re signing a death warrant for our free at point of care health system. It’ll be akin to the American system with the Tories in charge, with huge levels of medical bankruptcy and opioid addiction due to untreated conditions.

One of my husband’s colleagues worked in Dubai for a few months and was shocked by the credit card before care approach. Apparently something was being built that many of the low paid workers got injured building. They barely treated them as a result, and he left in disgust with a new appreciation of our NHS even in its current crisis.

There will be a new three word slogan next year created by the Tory campaign managers and no doubt it’ll be the death knell for the NHS, one of the biggest achievements ever made by a government (post war Labour) down the pan. All because of voter ignorance.

I couldn’t put it better myself.

Leaving women on pub floors in agony is how the Conservatives look after women.

She hadn’t been in a car crash or come off a motorbike! She had fallen over, most people can be helped up after falling over.

It is shocking that ambulances are so hard to get these days but it is just as shocking that the pub, the OP and all the patrons left a woman lying on a cold hard floor for eight hours. OP is happy to come and post about how shocked she was whilst at the same time gawping at this woman whilst she tucks into her pub dinner.

Tell me you haven’t read the whole thread without telling me you haven’t read the whole thread

What?

Otter ;

This. The government want us to have to pay for private health. Insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid treating us. We do not want to end up like the USA, it is appalling. We must protect our NHS.

Tbh, after reading this and experiencing something similar first hand, I don't think I'd be fussed if the nhs did go private. Anything run by the government turns to shit, and that's without them having to think about making a profit.

Is she in hospital now OP?

Ambulance finally arrived at midnight.

Did you watch this Channel 4 Dispatches episode ont he state of the ambulance service? I cried when they were called out to a fall. It was one of those alert necklace trigger thingies but it still took them 3 hours to get there in the middle of the night. You could hear to distress in the voice of the paramedic at getting there to find the elderly lady was actually outside, in minus degrees. He thought she was dead. Thankfully she somehow managed to not freeze to death.

www.channel4.com/programmes/undercover-ambulance-nhs-chaos-dispatches

That sounds awful @Fladdermus, so distressing, have you read some of the PPs experiences.

But you still get twats hinting that I'm a troll, or an anti-government bot.

@findmeonthesunnyside was the only poster to offer some practical and helpful advice. Lots of posters just getting angry about irrelevant things.

Telling me to move her or getting angry that I was sitting there eating my meal watching an old lady in agony on the floor. I mean where did I even say that!!

If some of the posters on here are a reflection on the voting public, I can see why we're fucked as a country.

Sorry fladder going on a rant! It is distressing reading and seeing the state of the NHS but seeing it in real life really brought it home. And people are angry because a small family pub didn't shut, or that I didn't lift her up and drive her to hospital.

My sympathies are with anyone who's had a relative in this situation and for those who will be in this situation soon.

Horrifying.

how is she? How are you?

@TossInSomeGrapes That’s a great plan.

Anyone over the age of 65 should be on house arrest.

And when they bring in a law that says stupid people shouldn’t be out in public, I’m guessing you’ll be happy to be the first to accept that ruling and stay indoors?