Risk of death by geography for elderly man who waited hours for ambulance, says son
James Woods, from Termon Road in Boyle, Co Roscommon, also described as “codswallop” any suggestion the response to his father’s health crisis had been adequate.
His father, also called James, has since been discharged but awaits further treatment. James Snr began feeling unwell last Sunday and, on Monday, his son — who works in Sligo General Hospital — checked on him.
He called the family GP who, in turn, rang the ambulance asking that James Snr, 68, be in the emergency department within the hour.
Despite the ambulance service being based in the same part of the town, no ambulance arrived. Ultimately an ambulance came three hours and 28 minutes after the first call.
On arrival in Sligo it was a number of hours before a bed was readied for James Snr, a cancer sufferer. In response, the HSE said it would not comment on individual cases but said calls received from GPs are classified as emergency or urgent.
“With urgent calls, ambulance control will, in consultation with the GP, agree a timeline for the call to be undertaken.”
James Woods said: “That’s a load of codswallop.”
