A SOUTH Wales family was forced to take matters into their own hands, after a ten-hour ambulance delay left a 65-year-old grandfather lying in agony on his bathroom floor with a fractured femur.

Martin Hall, of Hall Brothers Pembrokeshire, is living with the results of a brain stem stroke he suffered ten years ago, from which he made a miraculous recovery.

At 8am on March 8, Mr Hall suffered a fall at his home near Goodwick, fracturing his femur.

“It was clear straight away he had hurt himself,” said his son Rory.

The family rang 999 at 8.17am and were told there were delays and patients were being prioritised.

After 10 agonising hours Mr Hall was still on the bathroom floor with no sign of an ambulance, despite the family ringing 999 two more times.

“At 6pm we received a call from the Welsh Ambulance Service apologising for the delay. They still couldn’t advise us of an arrival time,” said Rory.

By this time Rory’s sister, Dr Katy Kumar, who is a senior lead A&E doctor in Morriston had driven home to Pembrokeshire to be with her father.

Getting desperate now, the family decided to take matters into their own hands.

“We cancelled the ambulance,” said Rory. “We would take Dad to Withybush ourselves.”

The family borrowed a stretcher from Fishguard & Goodwick Rugby Club and loaded Mr Hall into the back of their company’s sprinter van.

“The A&E department in Withybush was stunned when we arrived at 7pm,” said Rory. “They did a double take when they saw my father lying on a mattress and stretcher in the back of our works van with my sister and family friend for safety.”

Mr Hall was eventually admitted and after an X-ray at 1.30 am the next morning it was confirmed he had fractured his femur. At around 5.30am he was eventually transferred to a ward.

“I cannot emphasize how disappointed I am in the NHS,” said Rory. It is 2022, I have no words.”

Sonia Thompson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s director of operations apologised sincerely for Mr Hall’s ‘upsetting experience and said that the clinical contact centre remained in close contact with while transport was being arranged “As an ambulance service, we will always respond first to those whose life is in immediate danger,” she said.

“If a person’s condition is not life-threatening, they may wait longer for our help, and when all of our resources are already committed to other patients …they may wait longer still, such is the pressure across the system.”

She added that the service was working with health boards and Welsh Government to find solutions to ambulance response times ’which are as frustrating for our staff as they are for our patients’ and invited Mr Hall, or a representative to contact the trust, to discuss the experience.