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Ambulances abandoning patients PDF Print E-mail
Written by Alun Cairns AM   
Monday, 16 November 2009 11:22
THE REFUSAL of the Welsh Ambulance Service to ferry two elderly Barry women back home from hospital in Cardiff has been raised on the floor of the Senedd by Regional AM Alun Cairns.

He tackled First Minister Rhodri Morgan about the two separate incidents which saw women from Barry, who were in their 80's, told to find their own way home from the University Hospital at the Heath - one at 3am.
Mr Morgan admitted that he knew nothing of these incidents so Mr Cairns is writing to him with full details.

Mr Cairns said that since the cases were highlighted in The Gem, he had received further complaints from the public.

"Both of these ladies had gone for treatment to Barry Hospital but were transferred to the Heath by ambulance. Both drive and had gone to hospital by car but of course, they had to leave these behind. One lady had suffered head injuries and it was deemed unwise for her to drive.

"I have no quarrel with either the decision to transfer them to the Heath or to transport them there by ambulance but I was angry that they were just left stranded. It would seem only right to me that if you are brought to a hospital by ambulance, you are also taken home by one.

"Expecting two elderly women to try and get home in the middle of the night is ridiculous. Luckily, they both had enough money on them to pay for a taxi home."

Mr Cairns is also pursuing the refusal of the ambulance service to pick up a patient from Rookwood Hospital and take her home to the Vale after her appointment with her consultant.
The woman was being taken there by her husband as ambulances had picked her up too late for her appointment on two previous occasions. But she was told that she would have to book a two-way trip or nothing.

"It's time that the ambulance service adopted a more flexible attitude to patients and looked at each case on its merits. I will be asking Rhodri Morgan to look into these examples and the others I have been informed about by readers of The Gem."

Mr Cairns also expressed concern about the latest ambulance statistics which show that a third of Category A emergency calls in the Vale were not dealt with within the eight minute target period.

"The response times in the Vale have improved and now stand at 67 per cent but that means that a third of those who face a medical emergency are not getting help within the specified time. The Assembly has to work harder with the Welsh Ambulance Service to get the response figures raised still more."