Wokingham woman left waiting hours for ambulance after fall

A report from Healthwatch Wokingham Borough revealed the woman was “pouring with blood” after she smacked her forehead outside the WADE day centre in Wokingham in November 2019.

An ambulance was called for the lady at 4.07 pm who was left “shaking and in-shock” on what was a “very cold afternoon”.

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She was brought inside having laid on the cold floor for nearly two hours before the ambulance arrived at 9.35pm — almost six hours later.

A boss from the WADE Centre told Healthwatch: “I think that this service is appalling and [I] am furious that this case was not viewed as a priority.

“If the family hadn’t made the decision to move her, she could have died outside.”

Healthwatch received a response from the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS)’s Caroline Whitworth, who is in charge of the authority’s patient experience team, explaining why an ambulance took so long to arrive.

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She said the service was experiencing high levels of demand at the time of the call and were being responded to in “strict clinical priority.”

Ms Whitworth added: “I sincerely apologise for the delay that the patient experienced on the day when she clearly needed our assistance and that the service provided was not satisfactory.

“Unfortunately, during periods of high demand, we are not always able to provide the level of service we aim to achieve.”

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The report was set to be discussed at Wokingham Borough Council’s health committee tomorrow night (March 4), but the meeting has been cancelled.