We’ll take you to hospital . . . right after our lunch

“It would appear that the dear old Daily Mail has struck again and wound up the decent, law abiding folk of the City. It's a shame that the Chron is now part of this rubbish and that jounalists are no more trustworthy than the preverbial second-hand car salesman. It is unfortunate that this lady had to wait, but, if there were more pressing 999 calls taking priority then I do not have a problem with that. @Mikehut - who are you referring to? Your Daily Mail subscription must be fully paid up as you have clearly fallen for it. @Rachelrevery - Of course there is provision for 'lunchtimes' - do you expect these people not to have a break? I expect you'd be the first to be banging on your manager's door if your teabreak was overdue. @Pompeybelle - where did that come from? I normally find your comments more rational. If Mr and Mrs Stupid stopped to think before dialling 999 for minor and often petty problems, then the service would run a lot smoother. Perhaps Ms Jenkins and her daughter (Disgusted of London) would have had the more rapid response they felt they were due - but not necessarily warranted. The ambulance service is not a taxi service and similarly, calling an ambulance is not like ordering a pizza - if your condition dictates you need immediate response then you will get it. If my mother was in the same situation and she had to wait whilst somebody was having their life saved then I wouldn't be ringing my MP or God forbid - contacting the Daily Mail.”

“What a disgrace, what if it was their parent - would they feel the same?”

“It's rubbish that elderly people aren't wanted in hospitals, I'm afraid. I have been a responder for three years and now work in hospital on an acute ward for the elderly and I have never, ever met a case for this argument. We treat each case on its individual merits and as per the patient. Although any patient has the right to request a visit to A+E a paramedic is quite correct in suggesting the most appropriate course of action, following a full and in-depth primary and secondary survey of the patient.

There are cases where a family are insistent that they want their relative in hospital out of concern, which is completely understandable but not always necessary. LucyMSN is correct in saying that people recover faster at home - the amount of infections etc. flying round hospital...

What people must remember is that they expect hospital to be a clean place - um, there are a lot of sick people in there! The infections mostly are brought in from the outside and a tight watch is kept on any diarrhoea and vomiting and should a patient have more than two episodes they are isolated as humanly possible and 'barrier nursed', meaning minimal contact, gloves and apron when you enter the room and thorough handwashing when you leave. All bedding and waste are placed into infection control bags to ensure it doesn't spread. What a lot of people also don't realise is that we are all carriers of MRSA in our noses and groin, it isn't 'born' in hospital!

We care for everyone, believe me!

Coming back to the story, if the 999 call-taker/dispatcher had been told that the person had lost consciousness then that would normally automatically warrant a Category A response, so it suggests that this information wasn't passed to control.”

“The call would have been coded priority, but there is one step above that and that's emergency. That level of injury or illness gets the 8 minute response time because it needs it. Based on the information in this story, this lady didn't need an 8 minute response time.”

“Do we know what message was given to operator taking the call ? If an old lady is knocked unconscious following a fall, that ought to be a priority.

Pompeybelle, i will soon be starting a Forum blog about the Care in the Community programme; some of the comments i am hearing are very disconcerting. It won't be immediate because i'm taking a Monday break.”

“The response is generated based on the information given in the 999 call - if the answers given indicated a quicker response was needed, she would have received it. In this case it didn't necessitate it so they didn't. Based on what the hospital did, i.e. a few stitches and an xray, they also didn't deem it serious, backing up GWAS's decision.

However.... the sloping shoulders response from GWAS management in this story is disgusting. Reading between the lines they are putting the blame onto the crews, rather than accepting that without protected meal breaks, crews would generally be relegated to grabbing a quick prepacked sandwich whenever they could. Not to mention the massive problem of shift overruns that GWAS has....

GWAS and the Bath Chronicle should be ashamed of the lazy and inflammatory journalism in this article.”

“Pompeybelle,

A hospital is not always the right place to be for a sick person. It's been proven that people can and do recover better at home, rather than going into hospital and running the risk of catching MRSA or other diseases.

Whatever happens with a patient that GWAS attend is done for clinical reasons, judgements made on what is based in front of them *AND* what the patient wants. It's not done because "hospitals don't want old people".”

“uuummm, yup, poor dear, of course, the 300 or so metres may be worth a bit of compo, no doubt the family may make a claim? cause we are all victims arent we..I dont know, just a tax paying person thought thats great, just cant wait until we cant pay for this anymore? cant wait for the middle England **** back lash boys!”

“The problem here is that hospitals don't want elderly people. You all know that's true - why duck the issue? My mother's doctor was horrified she had not been taken to hospital. I repeat - I don't blame the crews - though for reasons that escape me this comment has attracted red arrows (what strange mental processes some of the viewers of this website have) but I do blame the management who are persuading crews not to take the elderly to hospital and to treat them is non-urgent.”

“It seems the problem here is not that a crew was on a lunch break but that there was no other crews covering the lunch break. The need for emergency services doesn't stop for an hour every lunchtime.”