Apology after 74-year-old waits 10 hours for ambulance

A 74-year-old with Parkinson's disease has received an apology from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) after she had to wait 10 hours for an ambulance after a fall at home.

Julie Mayo said her mother, Irene Lowry, was in agony on the floor after breaking her shoulder.

"We would have liked to have provided a much quicker response but were prevented from doing so because of circumstances beyond our control," a spokesperson for NIAS said.

They said they understood frustrations, but stressed that the system was under "high levels of pressure", affecting its ability to respond to calls, mainly due to delayed hospital handovers and reduced ambulance availability.

"It's just awful, it was just horrendous to hear your mother lying screaming and yelling out for help," Julie told The Nolan Show on Thursday,

"This just shouldn't have happened, it should never happen."

Julie said her mother had a fall at her home on Tuesday at about 15:00 BST and she phoned for an ambulance at about 15:25.

"She was in extreme agony and was lying on the floor. She was screaming, obviously with broken bones," Julie said.

"I rang in desperation again to the ambulance service, but was told they didn't know when they could get an ambulance out."

Julie said she then rang her local GP to see if they could come over and provide interim pain relief, but was told she would just have to wait for an ambulance.

"I rang the ambulance again at 18:00 and pleaded with them, and they upgraded the call, but still couldn't give me an indication of what time. Then at nearly 22:10 I called again, but they still could not give any indication," she said.

"She couldn't handle the pain of being on the floor any longer, so she eventually got herself onto the sofa with great difficulty, but because of her Parkinson's she can't lie still.

"It was not until just after 01:00 that the ambulance arrived, and she had been screaming that whole time.

"She has a fractured shoulder, and because of her Parkinson's, her shoulders keep rotating, so you can even hear her bones crunching."

Julie commended NIAS staff who were working in incredibly difficult circumstances, but said "their hands were effectively tied".

Julie told BBC News NI her mother is now in Antrim Area Hospital, waiting to be moved to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Parkinson's disease, is a degenerative condition which affects how your brain communicates with the muscles in the body.

It is commonly associated with a visible tremor or muscle rigidity.

A person with Parkinson's disease can also experience a wide range of psychological problems.

In a statement, the NIAS said: "We would like to apologise to the patient who endured a lengthy wait for an ambulance to arrive following an incident at their home".

The NIAS said it continued to prioritise the most seriously ill patients, ensuring life-threatening emergencies receive the fastest possible response.

The service said delays were "unacceptable" and not the level of care it aimed to provide, adding it was working with partners to improve patient flow and reduce pressure on the system.

A key issue is the time ambulances spend waiting to hand patients over in emergency departments, which prevents crews from returning to 999 calls.

NIAS also warned that duplicate 999 calls are adding further pressure and asked the public not to call back for updates unless a patient's condition worsens.