Ambulance waiting times have came in to the spotlight this year for stroke callouts as they continue to be on the rise.
Stroke, like other serious conditions like heart attacks fall under category two for ambulance callouts in the UK.
In our latest feature on delays on ambulance waiting times, the CEO of the Stroke Association, Juliet Bouverie, says: “We’re extremely worried that stroke survivors’ lives and recoveries are being put at risk when they aren’t able to access vital treatments such as thrombolysis due to treatment delays.”
Now, stories like that of Gavin Matthews, 45, Ipswich are becoming more common and shows how underfunding of the NHS is leading stroke patients in having to make their own ways to A&E rather than rely on ambulances.
Gavin’s story
As reported first in the Ipswich Star, Gavin Matthews was left to make his own way to A&E after he had two ambulance cancellations.
It was during the afternoon of Wednesday, November 16, that Gavin started to experience symptoms of stroke, loss of feeling and twitching in his right hand.
His wife, Lauren Matthews, dialled 111 and was informed an ambulance has been dispatched that would take Gavin to his closest A&E department at Ipswich Hospital.
First cancellation
The Matthews’ were contacted just half an hour later and were informed the ambulance callout has been cancelled and told they were to make their own way to A&E or contact Gavin’s GP the next morning.
As they had no other way of getting to A&E, the couple had to take multiple buses, with the journey taking an hour, their arrival at A&E at 7pm was met with them being informed they could be facing a waiting time of seven hours.
After two hours, the couple were reassured by the hospital that it was safe for Gavin to leave and return home and contact his GP the ext morning and request an emergency appointment.
Second cancellation
After returning home, at 1am Gavin’s symptoms would intensify as he lost complete sense of feeling on his right-hand side.
Lauren would again dial for an ambulance, this time calling 999. After going through stroke evaluation questions, again, an ambulance was dispatched.
However, the ambulance was once again cancelled.
Lauren tells the Ipswich Star: “I was disgusted. They cancelled not just once, but twice.
“My husband suffered a stroke and two ambulances were cancelled. It’s just the stuff of nightmares.”
Confirmation
Thanks to the help of Lauren’s brother and sister, they were able to carry Gavin to their car in order to take him back to A&E.
After a ten hour wait, Gavin was seen to and a scan would confirm he’d had a bleed on the brain, known as a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is an uncommon type of stroke.
His over 19 hour wait meant he would miss out on thrombolysis, as he was out of the effective time window for the clot busting therapy.
Further issues
Lauren has reported that their has been further issues with Gavin’s treatment in hospital as he has been left to soil himself on three occasions after repeatedly asking for help.
Gavin will now spend the next three months in hospital as he receives physiotherapy and speech therapy to help with his rehabilitation, leaving sole responsibility for their six-year-old daughter Ruby on mother Lauren.
‘It’s a huge pressure on me, because I’m now essentially living the life of a single mum.
“If the ambulances hadn’t been cancelled, my husband wouldn’t be in the situation he is now.”
Apologies
A statement has since been releases by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST), which states: “We would like to apologise to Mr Matthews for his experience.
“The NHS is facing extremely high demand. When demand is at its highest, we regret that we are sometimes unable to send ambulances to patients while we deal with incidents involving immediately life-threatening conditions.
“We are working very closely with our NHS partners to reduce handover delays at hospitals to get more ambulance crews back out into the community to improve care for our patients.”
