Falkirk stroke survivor (67) lies on floor for five hours for ambulance

Scottish Ambulance Service this week apologised to Thomas Sharp for the long wait he had to endure after he fell in the kitchen on Tuesday morning while trying to change the filter of his oven hood.

Thomas suffered a stroke two years ago and was left with a weakness down one side of his body.

His wife June (62) called the ambulance at 10am and it attended just before 4pm.

The Sharp’s home in Bell Court, Falkirk, is just a few minutes drive away from the ambulance station in Grangemouth Road, Falkirk, but the crew who eventually assisted Thomas off the kitchen floor had come from Callander ambulance station nearly 30 miles away.

Thomas was still recovering from his fall, while wife June – who also injured her back trying to lift him off the floor – wants to know why the ambulance took so long to respond.

She said: “I was in the living room when I heard Thomas scream. I ran in and saw him lying on the floor. I tried to help get him up but I couldn’t – then my back cracked and I was screaming.

"I said I’m going to have to call an ambulance, which I did at around 10am. The guy was really nice and asked me what had happened, then said the ambulance would be out to us within an hour and I thought that’s fine.”

Then 40 minutes later June got a call from Glasgow.

"It was from the ambulance centre there, checking on us – the woman there said it had been put down as a four hour wait for an ambulance and I said I had been told it was one hour.

"They were concerned about Thomas lying on the floor for that length of time.”

When and ambulance still had not arrived by 3pm, June called them again.

"They said they were dealing with incidents where people were having cardiac arrests.”

It was just before 4pm when the ambulance arrived.

On talking to the crew, June found out they had come all the way from Callander.

She said: “I’m so shocked by this and just want to know why it took so long.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to the patient for the delay in responding and hope he is recovering well. Unfortunately, at the time we received this call from NHS 24, we were experiencing significant pressure on our services.

"All our calls are triaged to ensure the most seriously ill patients are given the highest priority and two crews initially dispatched to attend were diverted to higher priority calls.

"Our clinical advisers kept in regular contact with the patient to ensure his condition did not change. Lengthy ambulance turnaround times at hospitals, due to emergency departments being at near or full capacity, and staff COVID-19 abstractions continue to be major issues impacting on our ability to get to patients as quickly as we’d like to.

"Our plans to recruit additional staff by the end of March continue at pace.”

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