Nurse dragged mom into automotive when informed of ten hour ambulance wait

A 61-year-old nurse needed to drag her 87-year-old disabled mom into the automotive to drive her to hospital and save her life when she had a stroke after being quoted a ten hour await an ambulance in Wales.

Karen Woods says when she rang 999 she was informed paramedics can be there in lower than two hours – becoming inside the four-and-a-half-hour window for stroke sufferers to obtain the ‘clot busting’ thrombolysis drugs.

However, after a one hour and 45 minute anxious wait at her dwelling close to Swansea holding her mom Doreen’s hand, the ambulance had nonetheless not arrived, forcing Karen to ring once more – when she was informed the wait was now an extra eight hours.

To save her mom, the psychiatric nurse needed to drag her right into a wheelchair and carry her out of the home and into the automotive, with each motion inflicting immense ache to her mom’s osteoarthritis-ridden physique.

‘If you ring an ambulance in Wales, no one comes,’ Karen informed MailOnline.

Karen seen her aged mom was unwell earlier than she headed out on a procuring journey on Saturday morning on February 3. 

She mentioned her mom’s face and lips have been utterly white and she or he was shaking, with one facet of her face drooped. 

The stroke left Doreen – a former instructor of greater than 20 years – blind and unable to talk and Karen knew she solely had a short while to avoid wasting her mom’s life. 

But when she dialled 999 at 9.45am in determined want for assist, she was informed an ambulance wouldn’t arrive for at the very least one hour and 45 minutes. 

Karen held onto her mom’s hand all through that point, ready in hope paramedics would arrive.

To add to the frustration two ambulances drove previous her home with lights flashing, giving the stricken daughter false hope that life-saving help was close by. 

‘I used to be holding her hand and simply informed her ‘the ambulance is coming, don’t be concerned’,’ she mentioned.

‘I took her obs and so they have been horrendous, the blood strain was horrendous. Everything about her was like she was going to die.’  

When the quoted time was up she known as 999 once more solely to be astonishingly informed the wait time had elevated to eight hours. 

‘I did not know what to do, I simply needed to cry and I do not do crying,’ an emotional Karen mentioned. 

‘My mom could not see, she was blind [because of the stroke] and I did not know if she understood the state of affairs or not. 

‘That doubled her concern and I’m certain she thought she was dying. 

‘I mentioned [to the call handler] ‘she’s having a stroke you might be virtually condemning her to loss of life’.  

‘She mentioned ‘it isn’t my fault’ and I mentioned ‘I do know, I perceive it is the system however my mum could be very prone to die or be mind broken as a result of 999 is not working, is that the very best you are able to do?’.’

Her frightened mom uttered ‘no assist coming’ – her first phrases whereas within the midst of the stroke – which broke Karen’s coronary heart. 

‘I may have cried my coronary heart out as she tried so exhausting to talk the phrases and that is what she mentioned,’ Karen mentioned. 

She knew if she sat and waited any longer her mom would greater than probably die, so she dragged her 76kg (12 stone) mom into her wheelchair, and, with the assistance of her son, ‘crammed’ Doreen into the entrance seat of her Dacia Duster.

Karen mentioned: ‘I do not understand how we did it – it was hurting her and each motion she was crying out in ache. It was very barbaric.’ 

After making the 20 minute driver to Morriston hospital, assist arrived inside minutes and Doreen was wheeled into the central hub for significantly unwell folks.

The specialist stroke crew was round Doreen like ‘bees round nectar’ and after a CT scan administered the life-saving thrombolysis drugs with simply quarter-hour to spare till the 4 hour and 30 minute window elapsed. 

Within two hours she may communicate and see once more, however Karen says the episode has significantly broken her well being and she or he is now ‘100 occasions worse’. She now suspects her mom is dying. 

‘You really feel so powerless, I feel that is the primary feeling,’ she mentioned. ‘Of absolute helplessness. You cannot make a smart choice, you possibly can’t make a lifesaving choice as a result of it is taken out of your arms.’

She added: ‘She’s been a mighty positive girl and to be so shabbily handled on the finish of her life which ought to actually be the bit the place you’re feeling safe. 

‘You’ve paid into the system all of your life and also you suppose in the event you ring 999 one thing will occur. That’s the basic proper actually.’

Karen later came upon the the emergency companies phoned her dwelling whereas she was in hospital and informed her daughter paramedics wouldn’t be arriving in any respect and it was greatest for her to take her mom herself.  

‘The system is damaged, however the employees whenever you get in by the door are completely improbable,’ she mentioned. 

‘It’s completely horrendous. People are terrified to be unwell or to have a automotive crash as they know there isn’t any assist, nothing is coming. Nobody is coming. 999 does nothing. 

‘[Next time] I’ll cram her within the automotive, I’ll kick her within the automotive, I’ll strap her to the roof rack, I’ll get her to A&E myself. Honestly, I’ll strap her to a skateboard. 

‘I’ll by no means ever ring 999 once more because it wasted one hour of 45 minutes of time when my mom may have been handled.

‘It’s a giant pity after the whole lot she has executed and provided that that the top of her life is stuffed with concern that the one factor you depend on in occasions of actually critical sickness like that not exists that will help you.’

Katie Chappelle, affiliate director for Wales on the Stroke Association, mentioned there must be a quicker response for somebody with a suspected stroke to present ‘the very best likelihood of survival’. 

‘Every minute wasted shortens the time window for stroke sufferers who may very well be receiving life altering therapies,’ she mentioned. 

Jason Killens, chief govt of the Welsh Ambulance Service, mentioned: ‘We sincerely apologise to Mrs Woods and her household for his or her expertise of their time of want. We perceive how distressing and irritating this should have been, and it in no methods represents the extent of service we wish to give, and sufferers have a proper to count on.

‘The NHS throughout the UK is beneath vital strain as demand will increase, placing strain on our assets and our capacity to answer sufferers as promptly as we wish. 

‘These points are well-documented throughout the nation, and it’s unlucky when regrettably, now we have to ask sufferers to make their very own option to hospital as a result of now we have no ambulances accessible to reply in a well timed method.

‘We will attain out to Mrs Woods as quickly as doable to know extra about her experiences, to supply her and her household our apologies and the chance to formalise her issues. 

‘Meanwhile, we’re persevering with to work intently with our Health Board companions to actively discover options to those advanced system-wide points, as the present state of affairs is untenable for sufferers and employees throughout well being and social care.’

A Welsh authorities spokesperson mentioned: ‘We are sorry to listen to of this expertise which isn’t the extent of service we count on. 

‘The NHS throughout the UK is beneath vital strain as demand will increase, placing strain on our assets and our capacity to answer sufferers as promptly as we wish. These points are well-documented throughout the nation, and it’s unlucky when regrettably, now we have to ask sufferers to make their very own option to hospital as a result of now we have no ambulances accessible to reply in a well timed method.

‘We will attain out to Mrs Woods as quickly as doable to know extra about her experiences, to supply her and her household our apologies and the chance to formalise her issues. Meanwhile, we’re persevering with to work intently with our Health Board companions to actively discover options to those advanced system-wide points, as the present state of affairs is untenable for sufferers and employees throughout well being and social care.’