'Distressing' 999 wait highlights South West Ambulance delays

South West Ambulance has the longest waits successful the state for radical to get done to the operator. It takes astir a infinitesimal connected mean for ambulance power to reply 999 calls compared with conscionable 5 seconds for the West Midlands service.

"He conscionable looked astatine maine and helium conscionable passed distant earlier they could adjacent get to him," says 41-year-old Claire Iles.

"I rang astir 4pm and said helium has gone grey and I said if you don't travel present helium is going to dice and it was inactive 20 minutes earlier the ambulance turned up."

Claire was astatine location with her parents successful Yate, adjacent Bristol, erstwhile her father, Steve, 63, fell ill.

Between her and parent Jean, 71, they called 999 six times, with 2 of those calls going unanswered for 10 minutes.

It took 11 hours for a South West Ambulance unit to arrive, but Jean says by that clip it was excessively late.

Mr Iles died from a strangulated hernia that chopped disconnected the humor proviso to his bosom astatine 17:10 GMT connected 19 March.

The archetypal telephone to 999 was made astatine 05:37 GMT.

Claire said: "What we cognize is what helium was bringing up was blood, interior bleeding.

"We stressed this to the telephone handler each clip we called and they said 'does it look similar acheronian soil?'.

"And we said 'yes'. So they knew what helium was bringing up was bleeding internally but adjacent that, the seriousness of it, we conscionable couldn't look to get implicit to them."

The spot has apologised for the distress and anxiousness caused but said it remained nether "enormous pressure".

The latest figures amusement South West Ambulance Trust had the longest waits to get done to operators successful an emergency.

In September it took connected mean 56 seconds - acold higher than galore different services similar East Midlands which took lone six seconds.

Only Yorkshire has longer waits.

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: "We are atrocious that we were incapable to supply a timely effect to Mr Iles and we would again similar to connection our sincere condolences to his household and loved ones.

"Our ambulance clinicians strive each time to springiness their champion to patients, but our show has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partially owed to handover delays astatine exigency departments."

The spot said it was moving with its partners successful the NHS and societal attraction to amended the work that patients receive.

Charley Phiddes, from Chipping Sodbury, adjacent Bristol, was archetypal connected the country of a fatal motorbike clang successful Westerleigh successful August.

It took 3 minutes and 2 seconds for her to get done to 999.

She said she was overtaken by a motorcycle which had a head-on collision with a car coming the other way.

Ms Phiddes said it was precise distressing to person a hold to her telephone being answered: "Because wherever helium mislaid power of the motorcycle helium enactment his limb down and unluckily ended up losing a limb.

"I called 999, asked for ambulance, and was conscionable past enactment connected clasp but they conscionable support saying enactment connected the telephone if it's an emergency," she said.

"As you are successful daze you conscionable privation idiosyncratic to reply the telephone arsenic you conscionable don't cognize what to do."

The man, aged successful his 50s, died contempt an ambulance arriving astatine the country soon aft Ms Phiddes got through.

South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST) apologised and said that delays to its effect times mean that astir a 3rd of each the 999 calls that are made are present repetition calls.

"Calls from patients, oregon those looking aft them, who privation to cognize erstwhile a delayed ambulance volition arrive, to update america connected the deterioration of the diligent oregon to accidental they nary longer request an ambulance. This impacts our telephone answering pickup time.

"We are responding to this by recruiting much telephone handlers.

"We person already accrued the fig of full clip equivalent (WTE) unit from 160 to 195 and mean to summation the fig of telephone handlers to astir 250, albeit successful a precise choky jobs market."