A petrified mum has told of her nightmare experience trying to navigate roadworks to get to the hospital while she thought her baby was 'dying' right next to her.
Dawn Nelson, 35, has called for a rethink of the diversion route having been forced to rush her nine-month-old daughter Dulcie to A&E in May when she was struggling to breathe, having been told that an ambulance could take 45 minutes.
Dawn, from Wistaston, hindered by a closure as well as a 10.6 mile diversion, and began to panic. A paramedic, who had made it to her house before she got to Leighton Hospital, Crewe, had to give her directions on the phone, Cheshire Live writes.
It later turned out that Dulcie was suffering from Croup, an infection in the airways that obstructs breathing. She has now recovered, however, Dawn has called for a think over the diversion route, saying that it is going to 'cost someone's life'.
Cheshire East Council has apologised to Dawn for 'the inconvenience and traumatic journey'. The authority confirmed that it would raise the matter with the North West Ambulance Service, claiming that the 'lengthy response time had contributed to these events'.
Dawn said: "I was just in sheer panic and despair. It's just horrific. I feel for anybody who is in a worse situation than me. For us, what appeared to be quite a serious situation, wasn't in the end.
"I don't know whether there's any sort of degree of competence in Cheshire East Council or not. Whoever signed that diversion off, they must be under constant criticism. It needs to be addressed because they are going to cost someone's life."
Dawn and her husband Clive noticed something was wrong with Dulcie late on May 31. They called 999 at just before 11pm but were told an ambulance would take around 45 minutes to arrive.
As the family live on Rope Lane in Wistaston, Dawn decided it would be quicker to drive Dulcie to A&E herself. They put her in a car seat in the passenger seat, so that Dawn could keep an eye on her while Clive remained at home with their other child.
She said: "I admit that I was panicked, my husband was too. So much so that we put her in the front seat so that I could keep an eye on her whilst driving and could call 999 again should the situation worsen. We both thought she was dying. Her lips were turning blue."
She turned right on to Rope Lane, travelled over the lights at Wells Green to Park Drive before turning on to Church Lane and following Valley Road. She then drove onto Wistaston Green Road, followed the road to the Rising Sun pub and then on to the A530 towards Coppenhall Roundabout.
Dawn had been vaguely aware that there was a closure on Middlewich Road but did not know about the diversion. She added: "If you are a parent or anybody trying to get to hospital in an emergency situation, the last thing you think is 'oh Middlewich Road is shut'. It's the last thing you think about until you see a sign."
When she did see the 'road ahead closed' signs on Middlewich Road, she began to follow the diversion. If she continued, it would've taken her to Alvaston Roundabout, along the Nantwich Bypass, Shavington Bypass, University Way, Sydney Road, Bradfield Road and Flowers Lane - more than 10 miles in a near-complete circle around the entire town.
She said: "I looped around the roundabout, got back to the Rising Sun and I'm thinking 'where is this taking me'.
At this point, she had turned on her car's sat-nav via voice activiation and she did a U-turn when she got to the lights by the pub. She then headed back towards Coppenhall Roundabout, turning right onto Coppenhall Lane and then left onto Minshull New Road.
She was then called by a paramedic, who had arrived at her home in the ambulance 20 minutes after the 999 call was made. Due to how panicked she was, Dawn was tempted to drive back home to where the ambulance was but the paramedic encouraged her to keep heading to the hospital and gave her directions.
She said: "When the paramedic came on the phone I just asked if I could turn around and come home. But he said I was miles closer and to just carry on.
"All I wanted was her to be on oxygen as soon as possible, which they can do in the ambulance. I was just in desperation."
As soon as she arrived at A&E, a receptionist came straight out and grabbed the car seat from Dawn. According to the mum-of-two, they then said 'we have one struggling here' before two doctors and a nurse took them straight into a bay.
When she arrived, Dulcie's heart rate was at 187bpm and her oxygen levels were below 90. She was in the high dependency unit for four hours and had two different steroid nebulisers, oral steroids and oxygen.
She was stabilised and moved to ward 17 of the child and adolescent unit. She was diagnosed with croup - an infection that affects the upper airway and restricts breathing.
It is a fairly common ailment among children but Dawn said she was not aware of the condition. She added: "When I say it sounded like she was going to die, I'm not lying.
"I was just really worried about her deteriorating next to me or choking. I'm so relieved it's a very treatable child illness but it was just the drive in the car. It was so scary."
Dawn believes there needs to be changes made to the diversion route. She has written to Cheshire East Council asking whether it's 'reasonable' to 'ask drivers to add a minimum of fifteen minutes to a time critical journey'.
In her letter to the authority, she said: "I am begging you to rethink your diversion signs for the route to hospital. No parent should have to feel as I felt making the U-turn in the road thinking their baby could die at any moment."
Dawn said that she was grateful to both the staff at Leighton Hospital and the paramedics for their help. But she said the way the roadworks and diversion had been organised by the council was 'disgusting'.
She said: "What if someone was suffering signs of a stroke and you were told the ambulance would take 20 minutes but you need to get them to A&E right away? They're going to be in that same situation.
"What if someone is coming from outside the area? They shouldn't have to know all the back roads around Crewe or rely on their sat-nav."
Cllr Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council’s deputy leader and chair of highways and transport, said: “I am extremely sorry to hear of this lady’s experience, clearly exacerbated by the delay in the ambulance response time.
“Our highways team hold monthly meetings with Leighton Hospital, and the emergency services, to maintain a constant review of traffic management arrangements while this complex road improvement scheme progresses.
“Where any problems arise, we respond with additional signage, where necessary. We are not promoting Minshull New Road as an alternative route as this would generate a significant flow of through traffic through a residential area. However, blue hospital H symbols are included on the diversion signs to help drivers and the emergency services to navigate the diversion route, until they pick up the existing directional signs.
“Once again, I can only apologise for the inconvenience and traumatic journey this person experienced and I am relieved to hear that her daughter is making a full recovery. We will also raise this matter with North West Ambulance Service as it would appear that the lengthy response time had contributed to these events.”
The closure and diversion are in place as work is carried out on the North West Crewe Package (NWCP). The scheme aims to improve congestion in and around Leighton as well as open up the area for more businesses and housing developments.
The roadworks are scheduled to last 80 weeks. The current Middlewich Road closure between Smithy Lane and Pyms Lane until October but there will be 'varying closures' on the road until March 2023.
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