Investigation after man's 16-hour wait for ambulance in Great Yarmouth

Nanette Smith filed a complaint after her husband Colin, who has dementia, waited more than 16 hours for an ambulance to take him to hospital after a fall

A man with dementia waited 16 hours for an ambulance after hurting himself in a fall, it has emerged.

Colin Smith, 82, was at his care home in Great Yarmouth when he fell and hit his head on 14 August.

His wife, Nanette Smith, 78, has filed a complaint to the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) over its response.

The ambulance trust apologised for "any distress caused" and said it was investigating.

Mr Smith went to live in Claremont Lodge care home in Great Yarmouth in September 2021 after he was diagnosed with dementia.

"It is absolutely brilliant, they love him there, Colin is very well looked after. I've got no complaints whatsoever about the home," Mrs Smith, who visits him daily, said.

Mrs Smith said he fell while getting out of bed.

Staff put him back into bed and called an ambulance, but one did not arrive until the following day to take him to the James Paget hospital.

Nanette and Colin Smith having drinks in Amsterdam in 2018, a year before his dementia began

Mrs Smith said when he got to the hospital, he was given medication for his blood pressure and to calm his heart, as well as strong antibiotics for a serious urinary tract infection. His head was also scanned for any injury.

"I think that was a terrible amount of time to leave a man whose heart was racing," she said.

"I'd like to know why an ambulance wasn't brought out sooner to an elderly man of that age. Why wasn't he prioritised?

"Colin was comfortable, but he'd had a knock on the head, something internal could have been going on."

Mrs Smith was told by the home the ambulance service made a "welfare check" on her husband at about 22:00 on the night of the fall.

• 'This is making the best of a bad situation'

She has now lodged an official complaint to EEAST.

"This needs to go on record. He was an elderly gentleman, who was in distress and he didn't deserve to lay there."

Mr Smith returned to the care home a week later on Monday evening.

In a statement EEAST said: "We would like to apologise to the patient for any distress caused by a delay in reaching them.

"At the time we were under significant pressure due to a high number of patients with life-threatening conditions.

"We can confirm we have received a complaint in relation to this and are investigating. Due to this we are unable to comment further."