[ad_1]
A man with terrible burns who waited an hour and 18 minutes for paramedics to reach him felt that he was “left to die” after it became known that more than 20 ambulances were being used as “waiting rooms” in hospital parking lots. premises while lying in agony.
Company Director Chris Williams-Ellis, 41, suffered 45% burns to his body in his home fire in Denbighshire, North Wales, in September and remains very ill in hospital.
A serious incident investigation report seen by The Guardian highlighted that the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) was under “severe pressure” at the time, largely because many of its vehicles were being held in hospital parking lots in the time of delivery. patients.
Speaking to The Guardian from her hospital bed, Williams-Ellis said: “My general feeling is that they ignored me and left me to die. That my life had no value for them and it wasn’t worth saving. I was in terrible pain with no relief, scared, sick and cold. “
Williams-Ellis’s partner had helped him bathe and shower to try to ease the pain while they waited.
He said: “After a while my skin started to shed. My dad told me that my mother had removed chunks of meat from the shower and bathtub drain. “
Williams-Ellis is angry that so many ambulances and crews were held outside of hospitals when he was in dire need. “This is due to disorganization within the NHS hospitals in Wales.”
He also criticized the Welsh government. “For me, Cardiff politicians only care what happens when people can easily reach them at their ‘palace’ in Cardiff. They have no empathy, affinity, care or knowledge of life in North Wales. “
His mother, Philomene Williams-Ellis, said: “In the NHS hospital parking lots there were expensive emergency vehicles that acted as waiting rooms and this at the time when my son was dying and dying.”
Williams-Ellis, which imports classic American cars, was in a mechanic’s pit in a barn on Sept. 8 when a vehicle he was working under caught fire. His partner, Catherine Stewart, jumped into the flames, pulled him out, and dialed 999 at 2.51pm.
Between 2.55 p. M. And 3.41 p. M., The clinical contact center staff searched four times for an ambulance or rapid response vehicle to dispatch, but none were available. After a fifth attempt, one was sent, arriving at 4:49 p.m.
Williams-Ellis was transferred to a burn unit in Merseyside. He developed pneumonia and went into an induced coma. You must have a difficult operation to save your hand and arm.
The investigation report concluded that if the first person who received the call had correctly categorized the case, it is likely that an ambulance would have been with him 28 minutes earlier.
He also said that at the time the service was facing “severe pressure” with all of its emergency vehicles engaged with calls of higher or equal priority or parked at three hospitals in North Wales.
The report said that during the hour and 18 minutes that Williams-Ellis waited, 23 ambulance vehicles arrived or were already waiting at the three hospitals. Only two of the 23 vehicles delivered patients within 15 minutes, the transfer period that was agreed with the health boards and the Welsh government.
He added: “A total of 27 hours and 54 minutes of unexpected time was lost within these three hospitals by the WAST resources that came to these hospitals during the time period.”
Williams-Ellis and her family believe the figure of 23 equates to about three-quarters of the ambulances that operated that day.
A spokesman for the Welsh government said: “We cannot comment on individual cases, however excessive waits for an ambulance response are not acceptable for any patient.
“We expect all patients to be transferred from ambulance vehicles to the care of emergency department personnel in order of clinical priority and always in a timely manner.
“Delays in patient delivery by ambulance are a challenge for the whole of the UK and require a whole system approach to achieve improvements. We continue to work together with health boards and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to support improvement, this has included investing in the recruitment of 136 ambulance doctors this year alone. “
Jason Killens, Executive Director of the Wales Ambulance Service, said: “A full and thorough investigation identified a number of issues that contributed to delaying contact with Christopher, for which we are very sorry, including the handling of 999 calls and staffing deficiencies. We are committed to learning from these findings and are already addressing them.
“Our research also found that at the time of this call, all of our resources were engaged with other patients in the community and at the hospital, where teams waited for long periods to transfer patients still in our care to staff at the hospital. hospital.
“More than 27 ambulance hours were lost in North Wales hospitals while Mr Williams-Ellis waited for our help. This delay is unacceptable and is not at all the service we strive to provide.
“We are working closely with colleagues on the board of health to offer improvements that reduce the pressure on busy emergency departments and free up our ambulances for our most critical patients. We have been in contact with the Williams-Ellis family throughout the investigation and continue to do so. We would like to extend our best wishes to Mr. Williams-Ellis for his continued recovery. ”
The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which manages the three hospitals, has been contacted for comment.
