Elderly man lay injured in Neath street for three hours before ambulance arrived
AN elderly man was left laying helplessly in the street for three hours after falling in Neath town centre.
He had suffered suspected broken bones in his leg and could not be moved.
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The weather was poor and police officers stayed with him to make him as warm and comfortable as possible until an ambulance finally arrived.
It happened in the week that the Welsh Ambulance Service failed to hit the all-Wales target for the seventh successive month — with the situation worst in Neath Port Talbot.
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The man fell near Victoria Gardens. One passer-by, who did not want to be named, said: "He had collapsed in the street.
"The man was obviously in a lot of discomfort but there was a problem getting him to hospital by ambulance.
"He obviously couldn't be moved but the weather was really bad.
"The police were with him the whole time. They had him wrapped up in coats and whatnot, trying to keep him warm and dry.
"But the ambulance didn't show up for hours. It was disgraceful.
"You cannot blame the paramedics because they work flat out. But there is something wrong with the system."
Inspector Huw Griffiths, head of the Neath and Pontardawe police sector, confirmed officers attended the scene on Wednesday and called an ambulance at 5.15pm.
However, he said, the ambulance did not arrive until around three hours later.
"Officers remained with the elderly man, who had fallen and was believed to have broken bones in his leg," he said.
"Officers remained with him and did what they could to keep him as warm and comfortable as possible despite the weather, which was appalling.
"I was very pleased with the public-spirited way my officers dealt with the situation."
Welsh Government targets require the ambulance service to respond to 65 per cent of category A calls within eight minutes.
Latest findings show the target was missed again, with only 56.1 per cent of calls handled within that time.
Neath Port Talbot fared the worst, at 47.3 per cent.
Ambulance service officials could not be contacted over the Neath incident.
However, a spokesman has said there had been significant pressures caused by winter- related illnesses.
He said the service was firmly committed to delivering the improvement aims of its Working Together For Success modernisation programme.
16 Comments
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by townhilltom
Sunday, February 03 2013, 10:00PM
“by neathgirl
Sunday, February 3 2013, 8:27PM
"I seen this poor gent lying in the street for hours. Yes the police were with him sitting in a warm dry van while this gent was covered in soaking wet, freezing blankets. Why on earth didnt the policeman get out of the van and stand over him with an umbrella or two that way he would have remained dry and warm. If this was my dad i would not have been a happy bunny!!!!!!!!!.................and how exactly did YOU help?”
by townhilltom
Sunday, February 03 2013, 10:00PM
“by neathgirl
Sunday, February 3 2013, 8:27PM
"I seen this poor gent lying in the street for hours. Yes the police were with him sitting in a warm dry van while this gent was covered in soaking wet, freezing blankets. Why on earth didnt the policeman get out of the van and stand over him with an umbrella or two that way he would have remained dry and warm. If this was my dad i would not have been a happy bunny!!!!!!!!!.................and how exactly did YOU help?”
by neathgirl
Sunday, February 03 2013, 7:27PM
“I seen this poor gent lying in the street for hours. Yes the police were with him sitting in a warm dry van while this gent was covered in soaking wet, freezing blankets. Why on earth didnt the policeman get out of the van and stand over him with an umbrella or two that way he would have remained dry and warm. If this was my dad i would not have been a happy bunny!!!!!!!!!!”
by skewenboy
Sunday, February 03 2013, 4:20PM
“by Dazzy_P
"He'd probably just left the park minus a bottle of vodka and four cans of bow"
Don't judge everybody by yourself, Dazzy_P.
But EVEN IF he had, he was still entitled to better treatment than this.”
by GorsseinonJoe
Sunday, February 03 2013, 2:52PM
“It's not money that answers a call or drives an ambulance or manages the system or decides the policies that manage the business...it's people.
People failed this man not a machine, people can change systems.
If you cut the waste you save money then you apply the saved money to benefit the patients who rely on your services.
Basic business sense, use money wisely and stop wasting millions on non jobs and rubbish management systems.”
by Dazzy_P
Saturday, February 02 2013, 10:38PM
“He'd probably just left the park minus a bottle of vodka and four cans of bow”
by Dazzy_P
Saturday, February 02 2013, 10:36PM
“He'd probably just left the park after drinking a bottle of vodka and four cans of Bow.”
by gorseboy
Saturday, February 02 2013, 10:22PM
“Waited over two hours for an Ambulance with suspected pneumothorax,after a fall,then nearly another two outside Singleton.
Too many Chiefs not enough Indians!”
by VISIONSKI
Saturday, February 02 2013, 8:22PM
“I feel really sorry for this old gent and very angry about the state of the NHS in Wales. I don`t blame the Ambulance Service as they were all probably tied up waiting to unload patients at Morriston Hospital, which is the norm these days. This is what people expected when the powers to be, try to put all their eggs in one basket. We have a £60+ million Hospital serving NPT that has had services taken away, this gent should have been taken there full stop. Morriston Hospital is at full capacity sooner or later something has to give. Mistakes are happening there which I have experienced only recently, because staff are constantly under pressure. Don`t for one minute believe the rhetoric being posted by the Health Spokesman that everything is running smoothly (far from it). I`m not an alarmist but people should be really concerned and voice their opinions more forcibly than they are currently doing before there is a real tragedy.”
by brochadav
Saturday, February 02 2013, 5:06PM
“There's a lack of capacity at A&E's and often ambulances are queueing up waiting to offload. As well as cuts that have been made to the ambulance service.
Our population is rising yet they cut beds and staff in hospitals, where is the logic? No wonder the government won't release their estimates on new immigrants when we open our doors to 2 more EU countries. We know they'll be wrong and instead of a hundred thousand we can expect closer to a million more (combined with people from countries already allowed to come here) wanting free benefits and health care.”