'She was screaming': Cork woman left lying on icy ground for hours due to ambulance delay

Family say ambulance delays left a woman with additional needs on icy ground for hours as vehicles queued outside CUH

An ambulance outside the emergency department at CUH. Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said: 'The reality is the service is stretched far too thinly and there are issues with the hospital having delays allowing people to be admitted if it’s leaving multiple ambulances tied up.' File picture: Denis Minihane

A woman with additional needs was left lying on icy ground in a Cork suburb for almost two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday because no ambulance was available to come to her aid.

Dolores Hart's family said when they finally got to hospital there were multiple ambulances waiting outside CUH for patients to be admitted.

Clare Hart, Dolores’ sister-in-law and carer said: “It was unbelievable. Dolores fell about 9.50am, she slipped on the ground by the next door neighbour’s house and they rang me so I ran down to her.

“She was on the ground and we couldn’t pick her up, and we were afraid to move her in case we did more damage,” she said, adding that over the course of the next two hours, they rang the ambulance five times.

"We threw blankets on her but we were freezing standing out there and she was too. Her GP came down to us but Dolores has intellectual disabilities and is bipolar so she couldn’t tell us exactly where the pain was. "

The GP also rang the ambulance, and a first responder came and examined Dolores before ringing an ambulance himself, with one eventually arriving at 12.10pm.

Ms Hart said: “When we got to the hospital, I counted seven ambulances with people in them waiting to be taken into hospital. The ambulances had to wait until people were handed over, and we weren’t handed over until 1.45pm.

“Thank God, she broke nothing, but she has very heavy bruising, and it’s lucky she didn’t get pneumonia with how long she was lying on the ground shivering. It could have been 100 times worse.

“We had blankets and a hot water bottle brought to her by neighbours. I couldn’t thank the neighbours enough, I would have been lost without them. Dolores was shaking saying to me to please call the ambulance again, we were trying to keep her calm because she was screaming and roaring.” 

Ms Hart said she was looking after Dolores today as she was “very sore” after the ordeal, adding: “I’m not blaming the staff in CUH or ambulance people because they were working very hard, but it was like a third-world country.” 

Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said he will be raising the issue with regional HSE management: “It is unacceptable that a person with additional needs or anybody could be left lying on the ground for hours on a cold day.

“I’m aware that yesterday was really busy, and the ambulance personnel themselves cannot be faulted as they were working very hard — the reality is the service is stretched far too thinly and there are issues with the hospital having delays allowing people to be admitted if it’s leaving multiple ambulances tied up.

“It was clearly a challenging day, but there will be challenging days and this should never be the outcome.” 

A spokesperson for the HSE said it cannot discuss details on individual cases due to confidentiality, but added: “The National Ambulance Service (NAS) operates a dynamic model of ambulance deployment, in line with international best practice. 

“Unfortunately, at times of high demand, this can mean that patients suffering from non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries can experience delays as we respond to incidents such as cardiac arrests and road traffic collisions.”