Family fuming after 89-year-old woman left waiting at bottom of her stairs for 24 hours
Family fuming after 89-year-old woman left waiting at bottom of her stairs for 24 hours
Share:
An elderly woman was left in agony at the bottom of her stairs for nearly a whole day as she waited for an ambulance, to the fury of her family. Shirley Harris, 89, suffered a fall at her home in Williamstown, Wales, after missing the bottom step and called her son, Peter, for help. The family called 999 at around 10am and was told there would likely be a wait of around four to eight hours.
Over the course of the day the family called several times checking on when they could expect an ambulance and at 10pm was told Mrs Harris was a “top priority” - but they could no longer give an eta. An ambulance finally arrived at her home at 7.20am the next day after a wait of around 21 hours.
Mrs Harris' niece, Amanda Thomas told WalesOnline : “We were totally worried and frustrated.”. Amanda added due to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, which is the closest hospital to Mrs Harris' home, being "choc a block", they were told she would be going to Prince Charles in Merthyr. However, Mrs Harris' wait did not end when the ambulance arrived.
When Amanda arrived at the hospital at 10.45am, she found out that her aunt hadn't been assessed and was still waiting in the back of an ambulance. By noon, Mrs Harris had been assessed and it was found that she had fractured her hip and would need a partial hip replacement, which was scheduled for Thursday, January 9.
However, this was then cancelled due to emergencies and rescheduled for Friday morning but again, the surgery was cancelled. After more phone calls to the hospital, and over 73 hours since the initial fall, Mrs Harris had her surgery on Saturday, January 11.Amanded added: “Our whole family were on pins for four days in case anything bad happened or the pain caused further medical problems from her.”.
