After suffering a stroke, the mother waited 90 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but the horrified teenager screamed for help over the phone.
Karen Bourne, 53, from Dagenham, east London, collapsed in front of her teenage son Ollie, unable to speak or raise her arms and stayed home.
Ollie, 16, called 999 and was told it would take 35 minutes for rescuers to arrive, but claimed they hadn’t arrived for over an hour.
London Emergency Services aims to reach stage 2 stroke patients within 18 minutes.
Desperate to know what to do, the teenager called her sister, Stevie Angobe, who was working in Milton Keynes at the time.
The 34-year-old said she answered a phone call from “uncomfortable” Ollie.
“He said, ‘I can’t move him, he doesn’t react, he can’t raise his hand or do anything,'” Stevie said.
The prison officer called 999 again and was told, “Call me if it gets worse” and “I’m doing my best.”
HCl stayed with her mother for an hour and a half on April 2 until emergency medical help arrived.
“I always thought I would lose my mum if the ambulance didn’t come,” she told My London.
“At first they told me it would be 35 minutes. It was an hour and a half because I thought it was too long.
Olly said she was “very angry”, “stressed” and “had a lot of emotions” as she waited with her mother.
“We put him in a comfortable position,” he said.
It got worse over time. I found it getting worse and worse and could not speak. “
When rescuers finally arrived, the teens said they were “really fine” and sent Karen straight to the hospital, but said the waiting and stress this caused was unacceptable.
“I understand that other things can happen, but when there is something of this caliber and you can lose your life, it is unacceptable,” he said.
After hearing the ollie, Stevie rushed to the Queen’s Hospital in Romford, arriving two days later and noticing her mother was there about 20 minutes after the broadcast was delayed.
Through her experience, she said, “I really thought my mom would die.”
“I am well aware of all the stress paramedics experience, but paramedics are life or death,” he said.
“I have no illusions. It’s not their fault, but I should have been able to handle it a little better. He thought he was gone.
Stevie said that time is of the utmost importance when someone has a stroke.
“Everyone has to obey after the acronym FAST,” he added.
“The rescuers who picked up my mother were absolutely wonderful people like angels, but they are not enough.”
A London Emergency Services spokesman confirmed that the crew reached Mr Bourne 1 hour and 30 minutes after receiving the first 999 calls.
“I understand that this must have been a very disastrous experience for Mr. Bourne and his family, and I apologize for the delay.
“I was so busy on April 2 that I received 6,300 calls.
“That’s 800 more calls than the 5,500 before the pandemic, which means the growing demand is taking longer than we want to reach patients.
“We remain very busy and have taken many steps to reach our patients as soon as possible.
Juliet Bouber OBE, executive director of the Stroke Association, said the “chronic crisis” facing ambulance staff was “extremely concerned”.
“We are in a critical situation where all emergency services are on high alert.
This is due to an unacceptable failure to provide the NHS with sufficient resources, resulting in death and severe disability.
Government and NHS leaders must urgently address NHS staffing issues in emergency services, hospitals and social welfare services.
“Ambulance chiefs and NHS staff need to work together to prioritize efforts to tackle delays.”
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Source: Metro
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
