AN ELDERLY woman who broke her neck in a fall has slammed an NHS medic for breaking “process” after being lifted into an ambulance without a neck brace.

Mary Stevens was walking her dog in the early hours of Friday, December 2, near her home in North Road, Cross Keys, when she tripped, cutting a deep gash in her head and injuring her neck.

As neighbours comforted the 65-year-old and covered her in blankets, six calls were made to the ambulance service from 8.30am before help arrived over two hours later.

When medics arrived, Ms Steven’s family claim a member of staff moved her into a wheelchair without a neck or back brace, despite protests that her “neck was hurting”. A scan at the Royal Gwent Hospital later that day revealed she had fractured a vertebrae in three places, leading to a week-long stay as part of her recovery.

Recalling the fall, Ms Stevens said the injury “split her head open like a melon [leaving] a scar running from her eyebrow to the back of her head”.

“I didn’t want to be picked up and one lady from the ambulance suggested a spinal board but then the man said I should go in a wheelchair,” she said.

“He seemed to disregard everything I said and he was joking with me to lighten the mood. It wasn’t a joke to me and I’m still in a lot of discomfort.

“I do feel angry that it took so long for an ambulance to come too as my head was also bleeding profusely and the blood was running down the back lane.”

She added: “Even the nurses at the hospital said it looked like I have took a “machete to the head.”

“I was a care worker and you shouldn’t move someone with a suspected neck injury without a body board. He definitely didn’t follow process.”

Ms Stevens is currently receiving outpatient treatment and has a full neck brace. However the long-term impact of the spinal injury is currently unknown.

The family said the paramedic assessed her neck injuries at the scene as tendon and ligament damage.

Daughter Elizabeth Butcher, 37, of Bassaleg, said: “When I was called to go and see her she was lying in the middle of the lane with blood pouring down into the alley.

“It looked like she had been in a car crash. The ambulance man assessed her neck and asked her if she could get up and she said ‘I can’t’.

“He then pulled her up into the sitting position and put her in the wheelchair. I’m absolutely fuming. Who knows what damage she could have received.”

Welsh Ambulance Service’s head of operations in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area, Darryl Collins, said: “As an ambulance service, we strive to provide the best possible clinical care for our patients, whose dignity and experience is paramount at all times.

“We were really sorry to hear about Mrs Stevens’ fall and about her experience, and would encourage her to contact us directly so that we can investigate what happened and better understand her concerns.”

He added: “In the meantime, we hope that Mrs Stevens continues to make a good recovery.”