An elderly man was forced to wait for an ambulance to arrive and take him to the hospital for five hours after he fell while doing house chores.
The incident happened in Swansea, UK, where 84-year-old Donavon March reportedly fell to the ground while cutting the hedge around his home.
After suffering a fall, the distressed senior attracted the attention of passersby who called the emergency services. At that time, the pensioner’s son, 58-year-old Dave Marsh, was also notified of the accident.
As Dave revealed, they were instructed not to move the father, who was lying on the cold pavement, and wait for help to arrive. The ambulance, however, didn’t arrive for five long hours, prompting the family to call emergency services four times.
“We were told not to move him and to not give him food or water and were told to tell them if he deteriorated. We rang four times in the five hours, he was in an uncomfortable position on his side and was getting cold as time went on,” Dave explained.
“I was worried because at his age, a fall could turn into something more serious and he’s the type of person who would usually get up after a fall.”
As Dave added, they were lucky it wasn’t raining on the day of the accident or things would have been much worse.
“But even though it was mild, he was getting colder and colder and ended up with four blankets on him by the end,” the son explained.
While it took the ambulance five hours to arrive, Dave admitted they were “very professional” when it came to tending to his father and taking him to the hospital.
“They did come in the end and they were very professional. When you call up you are asked questions and they obviously have to prioritize serious cases,” Dave said.
As the 58-year-old son also explained, the hospital kept his father overnight and later informed him that his father would be confined for a few days due to having a urinary tract infection.
“I can see why it takes a long time, when they came they had to do an assessment and paperwork before leaving for hospital. And at the end of the day it’s about resources and the size of our population – the NHS can’t cope,” Dave added.
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