83-year-old who waited 21 hours for ambulance could have ‘bled to death’

When 83-year old Joan Frost suffered a fall at home in Prestatyn, her husband Arthur decided to ring 999 for an ambulance to take her to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Mrs Frost had struggled with walking for eight years, having undergone a knee replacement that caused her more pain, and was not referred for more help for this issue despite her husband’s pleas.

Joan was sent home from a stay at the Denbigh Minor Injury Unit on Thursday, 22 September, which Arthur said “she wanted to do”, before things took a turn for the worst on September 25.

“She walks very, very badly,” said Arthur. “She managed four days, and then all of a sudden her legs – we had tea one night and her legs just collapsed.

“Her legs looked like a knot on the floor, I’d never seen legs like it.

“I had to straighten her legs out – there was no way I could get her up and there was no way I could get her out because there’s three big steps outside.”

Arthur says they were told to 'get a taxi' by emergency services.

Arthur immediately rang 999, and explained the situation to emergency services who “booked” the couple in for an ambulance.

They did not expect this to take 21 hours.

“During the night, I rang several times, and they went ‘sorry, no need to ring, you’re booked, you’re booked’”, said Arthur.

“I said ‘she’s in pain, crying in pain, you’ve got to get an ambulance’ and they said ‘oh get her in your car, have you got a car?’

“I said ‘yes’, and they said ‘can you get her in a car and bring her over?’

“I said ‘no - I can’t get her up, if I get her up I can’t get her out the door’

“Later on, I rang again and had the same rigmarole and then they said ‘well, if you can’t drive here yourself can you get a taxi?’. I couldn’t get her out the door – it’s just madness.”

After waiting almost an entire day, and with his wife in considerable pain, paramedics eventually arrived on the scene on September 26– and shocked the Frosts further upon saying they had travelled from Bala in Gwynedd.

“When they eventually arrived, I said to the guys [paramedics] ‘I’m so pleased you’ve come’ and they said ‘we don’t know what’s going on, we’ve come all the way from Bala’ and I thought, I don’t believe what he’s just said.

“Why would they come from Bala? It’s madness.”

Doctors soon discovered Joan had “quite a serious” fracture at the top of her leg, and the 83-year-old soon had surgery which removed part of the bone, which then had to be rebuilt.

Arthur said doctors were shocked that she had survived, adding: “Her doctor said he’s surprised she survived with a fracture like that laying on the floor for 21 hours.

“He said had it pierced an artery or something, she’d have bled to death.”

Liz Wedley, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Head of Service for the Emergency Medical Service in North Wales, issued an apology to Mrs Frost and her family, with a statement saying: “We would like to apologise to Mrs Frost and her family for what no doubt would have been a distressing wait for help.

“While an ambulance was being arranged, clinicians in our control room remained in close contact with Mr and Mrs Frost, until the point that it arrived.

“Sustained pressure remains across the entire unscheduled care system, and during 25-26 September – at the time of the call for Mrs Frost – our ambulance service lost 1,636 hours at hospitals across Wales waiting to hand patients over into the care of hospital staff.

“It will take a system-wide effort to resolve these complex and system-wide issues, and we continue to do all we can with partners to implement tangible and meaningful improvements.

“We would invite Mrs Frost’s family to contact us directly if they would like to discuss their experience in more detail.”

The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have also confirmed that they are dealing with a complaint from the couple.

Despite all they have gone through, Arthur said he is just happy to have Joan home after leg pain “ruined eight years of their retirement", saying: “I’m just very pleased to have her home, she’s been away for a long time.”