Cwmbran: Man with broken hip taken to hospital tied to plank

A antheral who had breached his hep was taken to infirmary strapped to a plank successful the backmost of a van aft his granddaughter was told nary ambulances were available.

Nicole Lea recovered Melvyn Ryan down the doorway of his location aft helium pressed an exigency telephone fastener astir his neck.

When she got determination she discovered the 89-year-old Suez Crisis seasoned besides had a breached shoulder.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said Mr Ryan's acquisition was beneath the work it aimed to offer.

She said she went to grandfather-of-eight Mr Ryan's home, successful Cwmbran, Torfaen, aft being contacted conscionable aft midnight connected Friday.

She said: "I didn't discarded immoderate clip successful calling 999 and gave them my details. And they turned astir and said they were incapable to nonstop anyone, determination wasn't immoderate assistance to nonstop and that I'd person to find a mode of getting him determination myself."

The telephone handler advised her to telephone the out-of-hours GP earlier saying she had to spell to woody with different calls.

"I was conscionable sat determination then, connected my ain connected the level with my 89-year-old gramps wondering however we were going to get retired of this situation," Ms Lea, from Pontypool, said.

Ms Lea said knew she had to bash thing and kept her gramps chatting arsenic she figured things out.

She did not telephone the GP arsenic she thought it would beryllium a discarded of time.

"With my spouse and my mum's assistance we managed to travel up with the thought of getting him onto a plank of wood and into the backmost of my partner's van to get him up to hospital," Ms Lea said.

Once successful the van helium was driven to Grange University Hospital, successful Cwmbran.

"We got him onto this plank of wood, we secured him there, kept him arsenic lukewarm arsenic possible, got him into the backmost of the van and took him consecutive up to hospital," Ms Lea said.

"Mr Ryan has had what sounds similar the astir appalling of experience," said Dr Iona Collins, chairwoman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru.

"How indispensable the ambulance work consciousness erstwhile they are getting calls similar this? Obvious its an exigency and they request assistance and they are incapable to help," she added.

"This is the worldly of nightmares."

However, Ms Lea said the unit astatine the infirmary were "amazing".

"It was conscionable the utter daze of being told that nary assistance was coming and the thought successful my caput was, 'Oh my God, he's going to die," Ms Lea said.

"I genuinely thought we were going to suffer him. I didn't deliberation that we'd beryllium capable to get him determination successful clip and harmless capable due to the fact that immoderate flimsy question could person killed him."

She said knowing the ambulance work was excessively stretched to nonstop assistance was "horrifying".

"We were precise fortunate successful the information that we did person a ample van and that I had household determination that were capable to travel and assist," Ms Lea said.

"If I was connected my ain I can't ideate however that concern would person panned out."

"It's conscionable thing that does not beryllium close successful this time and age," she said.

Ms Lea said she had sympathy for the NHS but was aggravated the aged were not cared for "like they should be".

Ms Lea said: "I bash judge thing tin beryllium done and needs to beryllium done astir this concern it cannot proceed the mode it is."

She said her gramps was doing good aft having an cognition connected his hip.

"We're precise very fortunate with the mode things person panned out," she said.

Welsh Ambulance Service operations director, Lee Brooks, said: "We are atrocious to perceive astir Mr Ryan's acquisition earlier this week, it is surely beneath the level of work that we purpose to offer.

"We admit wherefore this would beryllium upsetting for some Mr Ryan and his family, arsenic it is for america and our radical arsenic well," helium said.

He invited Mr Ryan and his household to get interaction with the work truthful the substance could beryllium investigated.

Welsh Ambulance Service boss, Jason Killens, said the work took a 5th much 999 calls than the erstwhile play and 300% much 111 calls.

On Sunday the Welsh Ambulance Service declared a "business continuity incident", which has since been stood down.

Mr Killens said: "There are a fig of things coming together. We person got the acold weather, we person got the Christmas enactment play starting to get nether mode and we person got concerns successful the assemblage astir strep A.

"That has surely driven a batch of that further enactment successful the 111 service."

Mr Killens said combined with unit successful health, societal and exigency attraction successful Wales, this had led to ambulances being delayed successful handing implicit patients astatine exigency departments.

"Patients did hold overmuch longer implicit the weekend," helium said.

Mr Brooks said concern continuity incidents were rare.

"The request experienced astatine the play was unprecedented, we received successful excess of 2,000 exigency 999 calls and received implicit 10,000 calls into NHS 111 Wales connected some Saturday and Sunday," helium said.

"Please lone telephone 999 successful a life-threatening emergency," Mr Brooks said.

"That's a cardiac arrest, thorax symptom oregon breathing difficulties, nonaccomplishment of consciousness, choking, oregon catastrophic bleeding.

"If the concern is not a life-threatening emergency, past it's important that you usage 1 of the galore alternatives to 999."

Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board's lawman main operating officer, Sarah James, said precocious request was ongoing.

She said: "We privation to reassure our communities that we are moving unneurotic with each of our cardinal partners, including the Welsh Ambulance Service and our 3 section authorities successful Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil, to bash each we tin to amended the concern rapidly for our patients.

Aneurin Bevan Health Board said it was dealing with ample numbers of wintertime viruses.

This was putting "severe" unit connected the system, it said, including connected the children's exigency appraisal portion and GP services.

"This morning, Monday, determination were already much than 100 patients waiting successful our exigency section by 10am," a spokesperson said.

They warned anyone without a life-threatening information should beryllium prepared for an "exceptionally" agelong wait.