Four-hour ambulance wait for hip-break wife

Jennifer Hook was in “agony” when she fell on her drive and her husband Alan thought help would be on its way when he called 999 at 12.30am on Sunday.

But as her condition was not deemed to be life-threatening, the case was referred to NHS Direct, which recommended she should be taken to hospital by a “non-emergency” ambulance, which arrived at the couple’s home in Hessle, near Hull, at 4.20am.

Mr Hook said the paramedics who arrived said they were based in Hull but had come from Doncaster after being sent to cover calls there. He made a formal complaint to Yorkshire Ambulance Service yesterday.

The 58-year-old, from Northgate, said: “I was furious. It’s totally ridiculous. Because she’d broken her hip if she’d had a bleed in that time she could have bled to death.”

He added: “Obviously lives are at risk. You ring 999 and ask for an ambulance and you expect to get one.”

Mrs Hook, 55, was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary and had an operation to put pins in her hip.

Vince Larvin, locality director for emergency operations (Hull and East Riding) at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said the case was being looked into, adding: “We are sorry to hear the patient and her family are unhappy with the response provided following their 999 call to us on March 11, 2012.

“We have made some initial enquiries which suggest that, from the information provided by the caller, the patient’s condition was not deemed to be immediately life-threatening so was referred to NHS Direct to ensure she received the most appropriate care for her needs.”