Crossways patient's fear at 999 response refusal (From Dorset Echo)

Crossways patient's fear at 999 response refusal

1:00pm Tuesday 7th September 2010 in

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PATIENT Daphne Hodge said she was petrified after the ambulance service refused to respond to an emergency call.

Pensioner Mrs Hodge, of Oakland Park, Crossways, suffered a painful attack from a thrombosis and her husband Geoffrey called 999 to request an ambulance.

But an operator told him his wife’s condition was not an emergency and refused to send an ambulance for her.

Mr Hodge then decided to take his wife to Dorset County Hospital’s accident and emergency department, where they claim staff told them that her condition could have put her life in danger and an ambulance should have been sent.

Mrs Hodge, aged 74, said: “I was recently diagnosed with thrombosis in the groin and on this particular night I was in excruciating pain, screaming with pain.

“My husband called 999 and they asked him a few questions.

“They asked him how much pain I was in on a scale of one to 10 and I said 10.

“They then told him that this was not an emergency and that they would get someone from NHS Direct to call us back.

“Geoffrey said not to bother and drove me to the accident and emergency ward himself.”

Mrs Hodge added: “I was absolutely petrified.

“I’m not a youngster but nevertheless my health is generally all right.

“The staff at the hospital there said they were absolutely appalled and dumbstruck that 999 hadn’t responded.

“If a thrombosis clot moves or breaks up it can kill you.

“I had to stay at hospital until 2.30am to make sure that the clot hadn’t moved to my lungs.

“I understand that the hospital has made an official complaint to the ambulance service and I’m concerned that this kind of thing could happen to other people.”

Mrs Hodge is now taking Warfarin and other anti-coagulant drugs to try to thin her blood and is undergoing regular blood tests at Dorset County Hospital to ensure the treatment is working.

She said she was now in so much pain she is having difficulty walking or standing and that she was disgusted at the response she received.

An ambulance service spokesman said he was not able to discuss the details of individual patients’ cases.

But he said that operators dealt with emergency calls on a triage basis that prioritised calls in the order of their seriousness.

He also said that a new system for handling these calls, called NHS Pathways, was aiming to improve the way out of hours and emergency calls were dealt with by the NHS and ambulance crews.

A Dorset County Hospital spokesman added: “It is inappropriate for the hospital trust to comment on individual cases.”