Player with broken neck waited hour for ambulance

A footballer who broke his neck during a match waited an hour on the pitch for an ambulance.

Dorchester Town FC's Wes Fogden suffered two fractured vertebrae during the FA Trophy game at Basingstoke on Saturday before the game was abandoned.

Club manager Tom Killick said it was "unacceptable" that someone with such a serious injury had to wait so long in the cold.

South Central Ambulance Service apologised, saying "there was a need to clinically prioritise other patients".

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent on Monday, Mr Killick said the injured player-coach was awaiting the results of a scan.

'Fairly typical these days'

"This was a fairly innocuous looking challenge but it quickly became apparent that Wes was in a lot of difficulty," said Mr Killick.

"What was unfortunate, but fairly typically these days, we had to wait a ridiculous amount of time for an ambulance and poor Wes was lying in the middle of the pitch for, I think, at least an hour in the freezing cold and it was a very worrying time.

"The biggest issue is that the ambulance service are absolutely overwhelmed and to have that sort of injury and have to wait that length of time on the middle of a freezing cold football pitch is, in my view, unacceptable."

South Central Ambulance Service said it was called at 15:37 BST and informed first aiders were supporting the patient.

A Community First Responder arrived at 16:24, followed by a ambulance at 16:45.

A spokesperson said: "The call was assigned as a category 2 call, which we aim to respond to within 30 minutes on average.

"At the time services in the Hampshire area were busy and there was a need to clinically prioritise other patients.

"We are sorry that we were not able to meet the expected response time for this call."

The first round fixture between Dorchester Town and Basingstoke Town will be replayed on Tuesday.