Elderly woman's long wait for an ambulance

Avis Herbert-Smith, who is 90 on Tuesday, slipped on her way into her bridge club meeting at 1.15pm this Tuesday and was in too much pain to move.

Concerned friends piled her with coats and blankets to keep her warm and dialled 999 for an ambulance.

They were appalled when 13 minutes later two paramedics arrived - with no ambulance!

Mrs Herbert-Smith, of Hastings Road, was treated at the scene but was still sitting on the cold concrete at 1.56pm when an ambulance arrived to take her to the Conquest - 33 minutes after the initial call.

Convalescing at home with her foot in plaster on Wednesday she said: "I just thought it was appalling service. It felt like a very long time to be sat there and the pain was quite bad. Fortunately I didn't get too cold because passers by kept laying coats over me.

"I was kept in over night and then waited two hours the following day with a group of others waiting for an ambulance to bring us home. They're going to get a good rocketing from me. I don't know if they're short-staffed or not but something has to be done about it."

Fellow bridge club member Anne Spencer said: "I can't understand why they didn't send an ambulance straight away.

"We made it quite clear that it was an elderly woman with suspected broken bones who couldn't move and would require hospital treatment, yet they had to send two paramedics to confirm what we already knew before an ambulance was summoned. I've never known anything like it."

Sussex Ambulance spokeswoman Shirley Calvert explained: "We had paramedics on the scene treating the patient in 13 minutes, which is within the standard time.

"It was not a life-threatening call and at that time that was the best we could do with the resources we had available.

"The paramedics assessed the patient and called an ambulance which had to come from Battle while they treated her. The ambulance left the scene at 2.19pm and the patient was in hospital by 2.34pm.

"This is all fairly standard but I appreciate it can seem longer when you are waiting."

Mrs Herbert-Smith was in good spirits on Thursday despite her trauma.

She said: "I've got my daughter and friends over from America to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday. Unfortunately this puts pay to any plans we had for dancing but never mind."