A 93-year-old woman died after she waited hours for an ambulance following a fall. Trudy Crumb from Merthyr Tydfil was found on the floor of her home by her daughter, Angela Davies, at around 4pm on Monday, July 25.
When Angela arrived, she said her usually capable mother was lying on her back and seemed confused. She believes Trudy had been there since Sunday evening.
Despite ringing for an ambulance right away and informing operators that Trudy's hands and toes were turning blue, Angela claims it took paramedics around four hours to arrive. She explained how Trudy was not able to use a toilet for the duration and had to remain on the floor.
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Within hours of Trudy finally reaching Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, she had deteriorated and passed away. Angela and her family believe Trudy would still be alive if an ambulance arrived sooner. A spokeswoman for the Welsh Ambulance Service apologised to Trudy's family. She said on Monday the trust spent over 1,000 hours at hospitals across Wales waiting to hand patients over to hospitals. It meant ambulances could not respond quickly to patients in the community.
Angela said she first became concerned about her mother when she didn't return her daily call during the afternoon. After several attempts which went straight through to voice mail, Angela decided to visit her mother's home, where she arrived at around 4pm.
One of Trudy's neighbours had a spare key and found her lying on her back in her night dress. Although she was conscious, Angela said her mother seemed confused about why she was on the floor.
Angela said: "The neighbour phoned the ambulance at 4.15pm and they said it would take between three and seven hours for the ambulance to come. 7.15pm came and went, then it was 7.30pm and 7.40pm and we heard nothing. During this time we rang ambulance control to say her fingers and toes had been turning blue. She was deteriorating and I thought we might need to perform CPR, but it didn't come to that. Then the ambulance pulled up outside at 8.10pm."
Angela said while they were waiting she was informed by an operator that Trudy should not be moved in case she had a serious injury. It meant she was unable to go to the toilet while she waited for the ambulance. Angela said she drove to the hospital to meet her mother there and was shocked by what she saw.
She said: "Before my mother came to the hospital, there were seven ambulances outside. She was the eighth to arrive. There was also a rapid response vehicle there. The nurses and doctors were running back and fourth to each ambulance to take observations."
Angela claims it took around 30 minutes of waiting until Trudy was taken into hospital, where doctors worked on her straight away. It was discovered that Trudy had broken her hip.
At around 4.20am, Angela returned home after she was advised to get some rest. However, around 20 minutes after she got into bed she had a call from the hospital asking her to come back.
"A doctor called me saying she had deteriorated," she said. "But by the time I got there, she had passed." Angela stressed she is not angry at staff - who treated her mother well - rather, she is frustrated at the wider issue of ambulance waiting times. Angela and her family believe Trudy might still be here today if an ambulance had reached her sooner.
Angela said: "I don't know if there is an answer [to make this better]. It would have been something if they sent a response vehicle down to check on her before the ambulance so she could have painkillers and be made more comfortable. I lost my father three years ago so I was more close to my mother now than ever. I would call her every day and take her out. I still go to the phone now to dial her number and then realise she's not there and isn't going to answer."
A spokesperson for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said: "We are very sad to learn of Ms Crumb's passing and our heartfelt condolences go to her family, friends and all who knew her. Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we are always keen to speak directly with families about any concerns they may have about their loved one's care, and would encourage Ms Crumb's family to contact us directly in order that we can go through the details with them.
"Our Emergency Department teams work closely with Welsh Ambulances Service crews to provide the best possible care in often very challenging circumstances so it is always important that we understand any concerns families may have. Once again, our sympathies go to all who knew and loved Ms Crumb and will mourn her passing."
Wendy Herbert the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Executive Director of Quality and Nursing (Interim) said: “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the Crumb family at this difficult time. We would invite the Crumb family to contact us directly so that we can better understand their concerns, and offer a more thorough explanation as to what happened.
“On the 25 July, we spent over 1,000 hours at hospitals across Wales waiting to hand patients over to our hospital colleagues, which meant that ambulances couldn’t respond to other patients in the community. We are sorry to anyone who has had a poor experience from us, as this is not the service we want to provide. The public can help by using our NHS services wisely and only calling 999 for serious or life-threatening emergencies.”
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