My mum's 40-hour wait to get to A&E with hip break - BBC

When 85-year-old Koulla fell astatine home, her household instantly rang for an ambulance. She was successful agonising symptom - she had breached her hip.

It was astir 8pm. It took different 14 hours for an ambulance to get to her, leaving her large granddaughter to attraction for her done the night.

When they arrived the crews were capable to springiness her symptom alleviation and rapidly transported her to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

But determination the hold continued - determination were astir 30 ambulances queuing to handover patients to A&E staff.

It was different 26 hours earlier she was taken wrong to A&E.

She past faced galore hours successful A&E earlier being taken for surgery.

Koulla's daughter, Marianna Flint, 53, said: "It was awful. You consciousness helpless due to the fact that you're giving your spot implicit to them to look aft a household subordinate who's successful agony and who needs surgery."

She has since received a written apology from the Royal Cornwall for the attraction provided to her parent successful August.

The spot said it was "sincerely" atrocious for the failings.

Ms Flint said: "I astir consciousness atrocious for those looking aft her. It's not down to them. There was nary country wrong to judge her in."

But Koulla is conscionable 1 of galore thousands of patients getting caught up successful these delays.

When ambulance crews bring patients to infirmary they are meant to beryllium capable to handover their patients to A&E unit wrong 15 minutes.

But an investigation by the BBC shows by precocious November much than 11,000 ambulances were spending implicit an hr stuck successful queues extracurricular infirmary each week.

That is 1 successful 7 of each arrivals and the highest since records began successful 2010.

The College of Paramedics said crews were facing a "perfect storm", with the queues extracurricular A&E preventing them reaching patients who request a 999 response.

College main enforcement Tracy Nicholls said: "We each cognize patients are coming to harm and successful immoderate cases terrible harm."

And adjacent erstwhile patients are admitted into A&E they tin look agelong waits for a furniture connected a ward, with infirmary bosses blaming a shortage of beds and problems discharging patients backmost into the community.

Experts judge these problems are a contributing origin to the precocious levels of deaths being recorded - successful caller months 700 much deaths a week are being seen than would beryllium expected.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine believes disruption to exigency attraction whitethorn relationship for astir a 4th of these deaths.

College president Dr Adrian Boyle said ambulances had efficaciously go "wards connected wheels".

Both ambulance effect times and A&E waits person deed their worst levels connected grounds successful each parts of the UK successful caller months.

In Cornwall, patients facing emergencies specified arsenic bosom attacks and strokes are present waiting much than 2 hours connected mean for an ambulance. The people is 18 minutes.

They are thought to beryllium among the worst delays successful the country, but nary of England's ambulance services is adjacent to the target, portion Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are each missing their targets.

Alongside Cornwall, parts of Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Somerset and Bristol person the longest waits, Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats person revealed.

The problems travel arsenic NHS unit hole to instrumentality onslaught action.

Unions person cited the problems facing the exigency attraction strategy arsenic 1 of the factors motivating members to ballot for a walkout.

A onslaught by members of the Royal College of Nursing is planned for 15 and 20 December successful England, Wales and Northern Ireland, portion earlier this week the 2 main unions representing ambulance unit said their members had besides backed walkouts.

The authorities said the NHS volition people its exigency attraction betterment program successful the caller year, which volition acceptable retired proposals to amended ambulance effect times and A&E show successful England.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said an other £500m was being made disposable to velocity up infirmary discharges and escaped up abstraction successful A&E, creating the equivalent of astatine slightest 7,000 much beds this winter

"This volition beryllium supported by an further £6.6bn successful the NHS implicit the adjacent 2 years to alteration accelerated enactment to amended urgent and exigency attraction show towards pre-pandemic levels," helium added.

Have you experienced a agelong hold for an ambulance oregon astatine A&E? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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