Cycling UK Forum

Yesterday Mrs FW took a fall outside our local shops, Cause, a loose paving stone. She rang me at work at about 14.10 and told me what had happened, she was in quite some considerable pain and said an Ambulance had been called. I quickly got changed and jumped on the bike and set off for Heald Green distance about 5.5 miles getting there at 14.45 expecting to see an ambulance or to be told she'd already gone to hospital. Nope she was still sat on the footpath nursing her left arm. a couple of local shopkeepers had come out to assist, one of the local bobby's had stopped and also a nurse, so she was in good company.by 1530 we decided that enough was enough and we managed to get her onto a chair then into the car. I got the bike into the back of the car and we set off for hospital. The local A&E is quite a busy place but even so we only waited five mins or so then got triaged (sp) and attended to she's got a bad break to the top of the humorous nothing they could do last night so we came home we were told to expect a call to go in for a CT scan first thing this morning the Doctor who saw her last night rang and asked her to come in this afternoon for the scan. While we were there the nurse that was doing the scan told her that she was booked in for surgery on Monday.

I've had numerous First aid courses over the years and what has always been impressed on us is the "Golden Hour", to get the first lot of treatment, what good is that when you cant get an ambulance. I got her to Hospital and there were four parked up outside with the crews waiting with patients inside. The local bobby radioed several times asking for an eta. to be told they have a high volume of calls.

I've got photo's of the paving slabs, one of the ladies who came out of the chemists told us that she had reported the fault in the footpath several times. because people had fallen over or tripped. Just by chance we have an injury lawyer at work, so when I get back to work he's having a new client.

Rant over

Malc

Good grief!
Wish her well, and hope for a quick recovery.
She must be in terrible pain.
Yes, get your lawyer onto it pronto and not just about the paving, but the lack of ambulance and lack of care.

Why does she have to wait to Monday for goodness sake?
I broke my wrist as an 11yo and was sorted into a plaster cast within a few hours. Maybe times have changed ......... and not for the better.

Get Well card will be on the way from us.

Gosh, thats awful. What a long fruitless wait. Hope your wife is not in too much pain and gets seen to properly. The stacked up ambulances tell a story - overloaded A&E ! All public services seem to be under stress.

Al

Mick F wrote:Good grief!
Wish her well, and hope for a quick recovery.
She must be in terrible pain.
Yes, get your lawyer onto it pronto and not just about the paving, but the lack of ambulance and lack of care.

Why does she have to wait to Monday for goodness sake?
I broke my wrist as an 11yo and was sorted into a plaster cast within a few hours. Maybe times have changed ......... and not for the better.

Get Well card will be on the way from us.

Thanks guys

Hospital has been on this afternoon she's going in Monday for surgery it's going to be a plates and screws job! Meanwhile ......... I'm in charge

Sorry to hear all of the above FW, apart from the news that Mrs. FW will hopefully sorted soon.
The ambulance response times are getting to be appalling and a lot of it is not down to them, but the shortage of beds etc in the hospitals.

I don't know if it was on the national news but recently a chap in North Wales died while waiting around 4 hours for an ambulance, despite his poor wife calling 999 three times.

Anyway, lets hope all goes well for your dear wife and that she can bear you looking after her.

fausto.

I was relieved to read that Mrs FW got prompt attention at AE. As the campionissimo points out, a lot of the ambulance delays are said to be because they are queueing for long periods in AE waiting to hand over patients.

Ouch! Best wishes to Mrs FW ('Mrs Worrier'?) for a speedy recovery - or, at least, as speedy as it takes bones to knit and heal up.

Waiting time for an ambulance is probably a matter of luck, but if there is a 'target' set my guess is, it's seldom met. When I had my 'off' about 18 months ago, resulting in my blood-spattered body being spreadeagled on the roadway, someone saw fit to make a 999 call and summon both police and ambulance, despite my insistence (peppered with swear-words) that I didn't think I was seriously hurt. The police turned up fairly promptly, and it was well that they did because it resulted in the driver being nailed, but I never saw hide nor hair of the ambulance - in the end the police called it off and I walked home. I was fairly comprehensively 'triaged', however, by the ambulance service over the phone, while I was waiting. Did this happen to Mrs FW?

On another occasion, when I was a witness to a much more serious accident involving two motorcyclists, near Skipton, again the police were on the scene promptly, but the ambulances took ages to show up, well over half an hour I reckon. Luckily there was an off-duty nurse amongst the bystanders. One of the victims had signs of internal bleeding which, surely, has got to be serious. Eventually the ambulances turned up and the injured were taken off - I believe they both survived, which was just as well.

On the other hand, on the occasion when my wife had a minor 'off' and suffered facial cuts and road rash, by the time I got there (about 15 minutes later) the ambulance was already there. They cleaned her up a bit and gave her a lift home.

So it's a lottery then.

From our local news
A woman who had to wait eight days to have a broken leg operated on at the Royal Cornwall hospital says an animal wouldn't have to wait that long. The case of Debbie Stimpson, which we're featuring on Spotlight tonight, has been described as unacceptable by a Health Minister. As you'll see later the hospital says the pressure of dealing with emergencies is now a major concern.

Sorry to read about this I hope that Mrs Fw gets better soon.

661-Pete wrote: ... - in the end the police called it off -...

This has reminded me of something I read perhaps a couple of months ago about an FOI request somewhere, possibly Essex, where a request was made to the ambulance service for info about the number of cases where a police vehicle was used to take a casualty to hospital because no ambulance was available. IIRC it emerged that not only was this information not kept, if an ambulance was requested but then cancelled, this info wasn't recorded either, even if the cancellation was because of an excessive delay. ie Some of the worst delays were not being included in the stats because the ambulance had to arrive before it was treated as delayed.

I feel so sorry for you, but as a member of the emergency services (fire) this is a direct result of cuts to frontline services. All 999 calls to ambulance are triaged: so a painful but non-lethal injury is a low priority, any appliances en-route will be re directed if a more serious call comes in.

If You'd said she had fallen and lost consciousness you'd have jumped the queue. With 999 calls it's all about what you say. Head injury and cardiac arrests are time critical, and the golden hour only applies to serious trauma.

Malc.....sorry to hear about all this.
It sounds like the ambulance delay was because they couldn't get people through A&E quickly enough, so the ambulances were sat outside full of patients.

I think the councils give themselves a target for how far out of level is acceptable for paving slabs.....if you can produce a photo of the slabs showing a tape measure against the discontinuity, it then becomes a simple yes it is or no it isn't outside the spec.....google "pavement trip hazard"

thirdcrank wrote:

661-Pete wrote: ... - in the end the police called it off -...

This has reminded me of something I read perhaps a couple of months ago about an FOI request somewhere, possibly Essex, where a request was made to the ambulance service for info about the number of cases where a police vehicle was used to take a casualty to hospital because no ambulance was available. IIRC it emerged that not only was this information not kept, if an ambulance was requested but then cancelled, this info wasn't recorded either, even if the cancellation was because of an excessive delay. ie Some of the worst delays were not being included in the stats because the ambulance had to arrive before it was treated as delayed.

That may well be, but to be fair, in my case the ambulance was turned back because I asked the police to do so (apparently the police have that authority but members of the public don't). Whether it was delayed was immaterial: it was obvious by then that I didn't need one, and I was anxious to get home.

Hi Guys

Many thanks for your continued good wishes. I've been out again this morning and re photographed the pavement with a rule and square. looks just short of 3/4"




What has happened is, Mrs FW was walking along and placed her foot over the join between the two tiles or whatever they are? and her foot has rolled over causing her to loose balance.

Malc
Sorry to hear about Mrs FW's fall and the appalling wasted time waiting for a non existent ambulance.
Glad to hear she's receiving prompt attention.

All that said,what is the real begger of the piece is that the 'accident' could've been so easily avoided by a prompt repair to the paving.
Neglecting it now has cost Mrs FW in pain and suffering,loss of earning(sick pay will have to be paid no doubt),initially not inconsiderable medical costs and then rehab.
And a claim against the council for neglect of their duty of care,rightly so IMO.
I'd take a guess it'll cost in money alone probably £30,000 for what was probably a £100 repair.
Our country is full of such false economies in it's drive to cut costs,it's a disgrace .