Council sorry for three-hour ambulance wait

Published on Monday 2 March 2009 08:58

THE council has apologised to the family of an elderly woman who was made to wait three hours for an ambulance after falling ill.

The complaint came after her condition deteriorated in February last year at an unnamed local authority care home.

It is understood when the woman fell ill at around 9am, family arrived around half an hour later and requested an ambulance. However, after consulting a doctor, care home staff decided it would be better if the woman was to stay put. It was only when a GP arrived at around noon that an ambulance was brought.

The complaint has been upheld by the council's health and social care department, which ruled that an ambulance attending would have made no difference to her health, but that the family's wishes should have been listened to.

Alan Finlayson, convener of the social work complaints review committee, said: "As the GP failed to call quickly at the care home, the family's clear wish that an ambulance be called should have been acted upon much earlier than it was."