97 Yr old Gran waiting 8 hours for an ambulance with a broken hip!

[LoveCherryTree]

My Gran, 97 years of age, given to this country in World War, paid her taxes and NI all her life. She fell today in her home at 12pm, she has a broken hip, my Father called 999 and it is now 8pm and still no ambulance.
She can’t go to the loo as she can’t get up, my Father who has Parkinson’s and my Uncle, who has throat cancer, both in their 70’s, sitting with her.
This country is broken beyond repair, I even tried to get a private ambulance and they said that it won’t make a difference because all the front line ambulances are sat at the hospital with patients inside because they can’t get them into the hospitals….I despair, so it’s better for my 97 year old Gran to be in agony and wet herself, I just can’t believe it! Anyone know a member of parliament I can talk to about this? I’m utterly disgusted!

This is dreadful. My 90 year old dad drove himself to casualty with chest pains ( NI) and sat for 11 hours before being seen. He had had a heart attack but was on a trolley for two days in a corridor before having treatment. He was then discharged , without us being told and clutching a letter that did he was not allowed to walk or carry, was sent down three flights of stairs carrying his hospital bag. To stand outside waiting on m’y dsis in the cold.
I’m so sorry. It is beyond terrifying.

It’s terrible, but I’m not sure what her giving in the war and paying taxes has to do with anything. She should get help quicker even without doing those things.

I hope she gets medical help very soon.

As happened to my MIL. She fell at home. A neighbour helped her up and onto a chair. Later, my DH helped her into bed, as she was likely to be waiting several more hours for the ambulance. Did either of them aggravate her condition? Who knows, but although she lived for another two years, she was never able to walk again. A couple of years earlier, a GP visited FIL at home, and decided he needed to be admitted. Ambulance still took several hours (maybe 6?) and he spent several more on a trolley at the hospital.
The NHS has been broken for years, sadly.
Hope your DGM recovers from this better than my MIL did.

Wondered that myself.

Too many people in the country unfortunately. Resources can’t cope.

A friends parent spent 10 hours on the floor last week with a broken leg.
Couldn't be moved, and all they could do was sit and wait 😔. And surgery was needed for the femur.

It was awful under labour too.

It wasn’t.

Mil waited 22 hours for an ambulance in March for a broken pelvis. Then waited a further 12 hours on a trolley in the corridor of A&E before being put in a bay. In total she was in A&E 2 days before finally being assessed by a physio and being deemed fit for discharge. The physio told us that had she needed to be admitted there was a 60 hour+ wait for a bed on a ward.

I'm so sorry. You're poor poor gran.

It's such a bloody scandal 😡

FloralGums · Today 20:31

The Tories totally screwed up the NHS. It will take years for Labour to fix it sadly

A big massive part of this is not Tories or Labour messing, it's over population including mass migration over stretching services intended for far,far fewer people- which instead of anyone actually getting to grips with, the Labour party deal with by encouraging it and encouraging more house building. It's crazy.

There are other factors too like loss of European work force and loss of good workers demoralised by the fact they cant provide good care because the overstretching means they are understaffed.

but by far the biggest problem is too many people trying to use a free service intended and funded for far fewer.

I hope you gran gets seen soon @LoveCherryTree I can't imagine how distressing that must be.

No. No it wasn't.

The people I know who work in the NHS say it’s mainly due to wasted resources and the whole of the NHS being badly managed and structured. They’re convinced even with the number of people in the country, it could cope much better if it was better set up.

I seem to recall either a thread on here last year or somewhere else where after 72 hours of waiting with an elderly relative on the floor they borrowed or bought a spinal board and moved the relative onto it and transported them via a van to hospital and carried her into a&e. Terrible.

Because this country should give back to my Gran, she’s served this country and she deserves its utmost respect, she’s paid into the system and there are a lot that haven’t and get better treatment! You’re blind if you don’t think that!

It wasn’t.

The biggest issue is bed blocking - patients fit to be discharged from the acute hospital but they can't go home/no care hone willing to take them/family refusing to engage with social workers to get them out of hospital/plethora of others reasons.

The above patients are in the beds so they can't send patients up from a&e, so ambulances can't bring new patients in ...

Doesn't apply to the op but for any emergency medical cases where you can reasonably use a car i would!

I think it was good under Blair but started to go downhill with Brown. Then it’s been a shit show since.

The NHS in its current form is not salvageable. We need to move to a personal insurance based system before the whole thing collapses. NHS is a brilliant idea but it is no longer financially viable. It’s very sad, but true.

I hope the ambulance gets there very soon…your poor Gran
x

The NHS and care system is not going to improve any time soon. Politically popular to block dependents travelling with parents to work here but the impact has been HUGE on numbers applying to work here despite it being a shortage occupation.

Health and Care Worker visa applications from main applicants increased from 4,100 to 18,300 between February 2022 and August 2023, following the addition of care workers to the Shortage Occupation List. Applications have decreased since August 2023, falling to 2,200 in October 2024.
There were 17,400 applications between April and October 2024, following the policy changes affecting social care workers and their family members - 83% fewer than the same 7 months in 2023.
Applications for dependants on the Health and Care Worker route increased in-line with main applicants, peaking at 23,300 in August 2023. Applications for dependants have decreased since December 2023, falling to 4,200 in October 2024.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications/monthly-monitoring-of-entry-clearance-visa-applications

I'm so sorry you and your poor nan are going through this. Utterly heartbreaking.

Makes me so mad.

I’m so sorry this has happened to your poor Grandma. I hope she gets seen to quickly when help arrives. You could write to your Granny’s MP to complain. I did this when we had a similar waiting with my Granny who had a stroke, were advised to take her to A&E ourselves. There were no ambulances for my dad when he had sepsis either and it took 6 hours for him to get through A&E.

Something like that may be the only way out now it’s got so bad, but then again, I’m very aware that’s what they want us to believe so that we’re all behind it when it happens.