Woman, 93, left ‘screaming in pain’ waiting 25 hours for ambulance before strike action

A 93-year-old woman was left “screaming in pain” on the floor of her care home for 25 hours while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, her family says.

Elizabeth Davies fractured her hip after suffering a fall in her care home in northwest Wales at the weekend.

Images show the elderly woman lying on a wooden floor with a cushion and a blanket while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Her family claimed this took more than a day.

“It was very upsetting to have to see her lying on the floor screaming in pain for over 24 hours,” Elizabeth’s son, Ian Davies, told local media.

Have you faced long ambulance waits? If so email zoe.tidman@independent.co.uk

Wales Ambulance Service has apologised for the care received and said winter pressures and a surge in demand had contributed to long wait times.

Care home staff are reported to have found Elizabeth lying on the floor of her care home in Llanbedrog in Llyn Peninsula on Saturday morning.

“They called for an ambulance but were advised an ambulance wouldn’t be available for six to eight hours as they were so busy,” her son told NorthWalesLive.

“They said my mother would be a priority because of her age.”

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Staff gave Elizabeth a blanket and pillow to make sure she was comfortable during the wait, as well as an absorbent pad as the 93-year-old was unable to go to the toilet.

An ambulance is believed to have arrived on Sunday afternoon. It took the elderly woman to hospital, where she was found to have fractured her hip.

“I don’t blame the ambulance staff because they are told what jobs to do and my mother wasn’t on the list,” Mr Davies told local media. “But I was very upset by what happened, it was unacceptable.”

Stephen Sheldon, the service manager for the Welsh Ambulance Service in North Wales, said: “We would like to extend our apologies to Ms Davies on her wait for help and invite the family to contact us directly.

“Winter pressures coupled with a surge in demand, staff sickness levels and the wider system pressures across NHS Wales has inhibited our ability to respond.

“Extensive hospital handover delays are well documented and has led to some very long waits for patients. On the 17 and 18 December, we spent over 1,600 hours outside hospitals across Wales, waiting to hand patients over to our hospital colleagues.”

He added: “We are working with partners across Wales to mitigate the pressures as best we can, but the public can help us by only calling 999 in a serious or life-threatening emergency so that our resources are available for those who need us most.

Wales Ambulance Service said it had experienced “exceptionally high demand” for both its 999 and 111 services on Saturday. More than 2,000 emergency calls had been received by the evening, it said.

Sonia Thompson, its assistant director of operations, said extreme weather and a high call volume - mostly for falls and breathing issues - had limited the ambulance service’s capacity to “respond safely and timely”.

“We are sorry to everyone who has waited longer for their calls to be answered, and subsequently wait longer for an ambulance to arrive,” she said.

Workers from Wales Ambulance Service, like others in England, are going on strike on Wednesday.

“We are expecting today’s strike action to be challenging for us,” the service tweeted. “Our services will be affected, and we will only be able to send ambulances to those with very serious or life-threatening illnesses and injuries.”