The family of a sick pensioner who was forced to wait five hours for an ambulance fear someone could die if things don’t change.
Wheelchair-bound Sylvia Hopps, 91, was in agony when an ambulance was called to her home in Coble Landing, South Shields, at 5.40pm on January 6.
But it wasn’t until 10.50pm when paramedics finally arrived to take the great grandmother – who suffers from lymphoedema and osteoporosis – to hospital.
During that time, her daughters Mandy Hume, 57, and Sylvia Elliott, 68, who both have disabilities, had been trying their best to make their mum as comfortable as they could.
The former nurse was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital, where, three weeks on, she is still undergoing tests to determine the cause of her illness.
The family have now lodged a complaint with the North East Ambulance Service and say they are “outraged” at the delay.
It is the third time in less than a month pensioners in South Tyneside have been forced to wait more than five hours for an ambulance.
The family now fear cash restraints on the service could lead to more people suffering and lives being put at risk.
Mrs Elliott’s husband, Alec, said: “Something needs to be done before someone dies. The length of time my mother-in-law had to wait for an ambulance is disgusting.
“I read about the previous incident. What is happening to the service needs to be highlighted. I don’t think the public realise the impact all these cuts are having.”
He says people should speak out if they have suffered similar problems, to ensure the issue is highlighted.
Mrs Elliott said: “We were contacted by my mam’s carer, who said her legs had given way and weren’t able to support her.
“I contacted my sister and we rushed round there and called for an ambulance.
“During that time we were told not to give her anything to eat or drink. When she got to the hospital, she was in so much pain after sitting in the wheelchair for so long.
“We have no complaint against the paramedics who turned up. They were lovely.
“It was just so distressing to see her in that state. It was just terrible.
“She has that many health problems, anything could have been wrong with her. I have never known an ambulance take so long.”
The family say they were contacted at 8pm to say the service was experiencing a high amount of life-threatening calls and paramedics would be there as soon as possible.
A spokesman for Nthe orth East Ambulance Service said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to the patient for the delay, in what was clearly an uncomfortable situation.
“We were called to an address in South Shields at 5.57pm on January 6 to reports that the patient could not stand. The call was triaged and classified as a non-life-threatening Green 3.
“This is the second lowest category for ambulance responses, for which we give ourselves a target response time of one hour.
“Between 5.57pm and our eventual arrival, four crews had been allocated the case – but on each occasion they were diverted en-route to more serious incidents.
“Calls where patients are in immediate life-threatening situations or face imminent serious harm always take priority. A crew arrived at the scene at 10.45pm, and the patient was taken to South Tyneside Hospital.
“The first week of January saw NEAS experience exceptionally heavy 999 demand. On one day our centre took more than 1,300 calls – the normal daily average is 700.”
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