AN ELDERLY woman died after being left in agony on the freezing floor of a GP car park for more than two hours after falling over.
Josephine Ellis, 76, had just attended an appointment at a mobile clinic adjacent to the Hoveton and Wroxham Medical Centre near Norwich, Norfolk. She lost her balance while walking to her car.
Even though it was a chilly October day, an inquest into her death revealed that no blankets were brought out for her by personnel as she waited for an ambulance.
When paramedics finally arrived and took her to hospital, they found she had broken her hip, says EDP.
Once admitted, her situation deteriorated and she tragically passed away three days later.
At the inquest into her death, Josephine’s family raised concerns over the care she had received – prompting the hearing to be suspended so that coroner Jacqueline Lake could further examine the matter.
Before this case recess, the court had listened to the sad accident.
It saw Josephine, a retired soldering technician, and her daughter leave a hearing appointment at the medical centre shortly before 2 pm on October 23.
The widow lost her balance and footing after turning quickly, sending her falling to the hard car park floor.
Josephine was in excruciating pain as she lay on the tarmac after realising she had gravely injured herself.
Her daughter, a healthcare assistant, then dialled 999 at about 2.20 pm as she was unable to move the pensioner.
Nevertheless, by 4 pm, Josephine, who had been a dedicated fundraiser for veterans’ organisations for much of her life, was still lying on the car park floor in agonising pain.
At the inquiry, her daughter clarified that despite being close to a general practitioner’s office, Josephine was not given any blankets or other means of staying warm.
She also said that a doctor had tried multiple times to try and lift Josephine – but since he did so without “adequate support”, Josephine was put through “additional pain and distress”.
However, her daughter also said that staff at the centre tried to reassure Josephine, with some offering their coats – one of these was used to prop up her leg.
Josephine was finally taken by ambulance to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, where an x-ray confirmed she had suffered a broken hip.
Despite undergoing surgery on October 25, the widow tragically never completely recovered, and passed away the next day.
Chris Hewitson, a patient safety specialist officer at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust, explained the various categorisations of 999 calls in a statement to the court.
He said that category 2 calls (CAT 2) require an emergency crew response within 40 minutes – these calls have an average response time of around 18 minutes.
These are usually done on unconscious patients, who have chest discomfort or are exhibiting indications of a stroke.
Category three coded calls (CAT 3), however, have a response time of two hours – this is generally used for people who have fallen.
During the initial call, the coding was accurate (CAT 3), the court heard, and this was subsequently elevated to CAT 2 soon after 3 pm, following an additional call made by an ambulance service clinician.
At 3.23 pm, a second 999 call was received which said that Josephine’s situation had worsened.
Nevertheless, instead of re-triaging, the call handler treated the call as a query on the arrival time of the ambulance.
Hewitson acknowledged that when Josephine’s condition deteriorated, the triage should have been carried out.
He said: “We would like to apologise for this omission and feedback has been provided to the call handler.”
However, Hewitson explained that the category of response would not have changed even with the re-triage, as Josephine was not unconscious.
He added that the trust was under “significant pressure” at the time and was facing challenges with the sheer volume of 999 calls it was receiving, as well as had issues with releasing ambulances back into the community from hospitals.
Hewitson continued: “I appreciate this will offer very little comfort to Mrs Ellis’ family.”
The trust has transformed Josephine’s tragic demise, including the recruitment of extra staff and implementation of care coordination hubs.
Additionally, it has expanded the hours that its community first responder volunteers are accessible.
Regarding Josephine’s treatment at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, her family also voiced several concerns.
Evidence about her hospital care will be heard when the inquest is reopened at a later time.
Regretfully, this reflects the current state of medical treatment. Simply put, our government no longer gives a damn.
This lady spent most of her time devoted to supporting others, and in her time of need, she was let down in every way.
This woman will have paid into the NHS all her working life which makes my blood boil when our government are letting migrants come into our country. We pay for them to stay! Yet they get everything for free. Have more babies and contaminate our country with their preaching, having the cheek to tell us that we are evildoers. And Labour has the cheek to say that our NHS is getting better, it’s all lies!
Our elderly will thereafter be cared for by migrants in nursing facilities. All of us are doomed. Given their cultural differences, how can these migrants relate to an English elderly at a care facility? All they want to do is provide basic care; they don’t want to socialise.
The NHS is literally staffed with migrants!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 