South East Coast Ambulance service [Secamb] has apologised after a woman who landed in the road after overturning her mobility scooter remained laying there for three and a half hours until an ambulance arrived.
Tracy Mulhall, 56, was unable to get up and remained lying on the floor, covered by a blanket from her friend Helen Preston, until paramedics arrived.
The incident happened at around 7.15pm on Monday [December 11] in Elm Grove, Westgate.
Helen, from St Peter’s, said: “She has COPD, fibromyalgia, and diabetes. I had a heated blanket and power pack and that [was] covering her. It’s ridiculous and totally unacceptable for someone to be laying in the road that long, especially with her disabilities. The evening was getting icier and luckily I had the heated blanket and power pack in my scooter.”
Nan-of-four Tracy was attended to by paramedics at 10.40pm and arrived at QEQM Hospital shortly before midnight. She was discharged at 8am the following day but says she is still “extremely sore.”
Tracy, who lives in Westgate with husband Geoff, said: “I was so shocked to be stuck on the ground for nearly four hours but I do not blame the drivers, I blame the system. There is just not enough [paramedics].
“But to be stuck there for [almost] four hours, I’ve seen my husband shout once in 27 years but that night he was getting really cross. I don’t know what was going on but at one point we were put through to somewhere up north. I honestly believe I would have been there longer had my husband not managed to get an upgrade on that last call.
“I had crashed into a tree stump that was at an angle so as I hit it, I was flipped up and over.”
Tracey says the local authority needs to deal with the tree stump.
Tracy suffered some damage at the base of her spine and says this was aggravated by laying for so long half on the kerb, she suffered severe bruising to her ankle where the mobility scooter landed on it and says her backside is ‘black and blue.’
She added: “With my disability my hips pop out so I had to spend all that time with my leg bent so my hip didn’t pop out.”
Despite the traumatic evening, Tracy says she wants to say a huge thank you to “the angels of Westgate” who assisted her.
She said: “I was given blankets and coats and a towel for under my head.
“Two young men who went passed when I crashed stopped and you could not ask for nicer people.
“The first responder Richard stayed with me throughout and a lady called Sue brought out coffee and a couple of kids also stopped. The best of Westgate came out that night and I want to say a big thank you to everyone.”
‘Very sorry’
A South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, (SECAmb), spokesperson said: “We take all concerns raised seriously and we are very sorry we took longer than we should to respond to this call and for the distress this will have undoubtedly caused.
“At the time the call was received, at approximately 7.15pm, we had been facing a sustained period of significantly high demand on our service. The call was triaged as a Category 3 call to which we aim to respond within two hours.
“We work hard to respond to all calls as quickly as possible, while prioritising life-threatening calls. Our response to the incident was later upgraded and an ambulance arrived at the scene at approximately 10.40pm.”
“We would invite the patient or her family to contact us directly if they would like to discuss their concerns in more detail.”
‘Unpleasant’
County Councillor Karen Constantine said: “I’m staggered and upset for Tracy, no one should be left to wait and suffer that long.
“I have asked for a report from SECAMB to be presented at the HOSC and whilst this was unpleasant and unacceptable, I hope it’s a one – off. SECAMB must do better than this and they are going to have to account for their failure to attend more promptly. If other Thanet residents experience similar I’m happy to hear from them at [email protected]”
