Long Eaton man, 85, left distraught by ambulance wait

East Midlands Ambulance Service said they were investigating the incident

The family of an 85-year-old man who waited hours for an ambulance after a fall, said he has been left distraught by the experience.

The man, from Long Eaton in Derbyshire, fell on 27 December, breaking his wrist and thumb and his hip replacement, as well as wounding his head.

His family said he was in so much pain he could not move from his chair and his wife was unable to lift him.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) said they were deeply sorry.

'Harrowing'

The man's daughter Sally, 54, said her father was left in "absolutely heart-breaking" circumstances.

"My dad had a fall at 21:00 GMT," she said.

"My mum rang 111 - they said they would get back to her with a doctor.

"At 23:30 she still hadn't heard from the doctors. She rang again, they said they would get a doctor to call."

At 09:00 on Wednesday the family still had not heard and rang again.

Call operators said they would organise an ambulance.

"By 15:00, myself and my husband went over and there was still no ambulance," she said.

"At 22:00 that night, a one-lady crewed ambulance turned up.

"She said she couldn't do anything because she was on her own and she didn't want to move him [because of the severity of the injuries sustained in the fall].

"She left because she couldn't get any back-up but she had put a priority call in for him to get an ambulance the next morning - which would be the Thursday morning - and he would definitely have an ambulance."

By 11:30 on Thursday, the ambulance still hadn't come.

"So my husband, myself, my son and his wife had to hunt for a wheelchair and we took him in by ourselves which we didn't want to because we didn't know if we would do any more damage," she said.

"He was in a lot of pain. He was in tears. He was absolutely distraught.

"He just felt that nobody was there to help him.

"To see my dad cry… that was the first time in my life that I've seen my dad in tears. It was absolutely heart-breaking."

On arrival at the Royal Derby Hospital, she said the family had faced further delays of several hours.

"We took him into the A&E department with the letter the paramedic had left stating he needed to go straight through to X-Ray. They just told us to take a seat and wait," she said.

"By this time he was getting confused and didn't know what day it was.

"We're all in a bit of a mess at the minute, very stressed and upset - not happy with how things have been dealt with."

MP Maggie Throup said the case was harrowing

The Conservative MP for Erewash, Maggie Throup, called the case "harrowing".

"My heart goes out to the gentleman and his family," she said.

"I will take it up with the ambulance service and find out what happened because, to me, an elderly gentleman who's fallen with a head wound should be seen as a priority."

Craig Whyles, EMAS divisional director for Derbyshire, said: "I am deeply sorry for the poor experience this gentleman has had with our service due to the time he waited for both a clinical response and transport to hospital. This is not the service we want to provide.

"Handover delays at emergency departments continue to be a major challenge and impact ability to respond to patients in the community.

"We are in contact with his family about their experience and will be carrying out a full investigation."

Sharon Martin, executive chief operating officer at University Hospitals Derby and Burton, said: "As one of the largest hospital trusts in the country our A&Es are facing significant demand.

"Robust plans are in place to help deal with winter pressures.

"We welcomed the patient's family contacting us directly and we will continue to support them."