Injured Tommy Childs waited more than an hour for an ambulance
Ipswich: ”It’s a disgrace” - footballer’s agonising 72-minute wait for an ambulance
BY LIZZIE PARRY,
health reporter
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
1:07 PM
IPSWICH/FELIXSTOWE: Lying in agony with a broken leg, a football player waited more than an HOUR for an ambulance to reach him as he lay hurt just half-a-mile from Ipswich Hospital.
Playing his debut for Felixstowe and Walton Utd on Wednesday, Tommy Childs’ appearance for his new club lasted just 25 minutes before he had to be carried off after colliding with another player.
His furious coach today told The Star it would have been quicker to carry the forward to the Heath Road trust from Ipswich Wanderers’ ground in Humber Doucy Lane, rather than wait for the ambulance which was diverted from Clacton in Essex.
A spokeswoman for the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) today offered to speak to Mr Childs about the incident, claiming long hospital hand-over times caused the hold up.
Branding the wait “a disgrace”, reserve team manager Rick Ward said Mr Childs is currently recovering at home after an operation to put metal plates from his knee to ankle.
He said doctors confirmed he broke his tibia in the incident – the bone at the front of the lower leg.
“It was about 8.10pm when the tackle happened,” he said. “There was nothing nasty about it, just two players committed and our player came off worse.
“They just clashed legs and Tommy was caught just above the shin pad.
“He was in absolute agony.
“He is quite a tough chap but he was in tears. It was freezing cold and we couldn’t move him – we didn’t know what damage had been done.
“We covered him in coats and blankets.”
He said the ambulance still hadn’t arrived by the end of the game.
Mr Ward said: “What do we pay our National Insurance and taxes for?
“When someone who works full time is lying there injured and has to wait like that for an ambulance it is a disgrace.
“To be honest whenever you hear about someone with a football injury they always have to wait.
“I understand that there could have been someone with life-threatening injuries who should get priority but it was ridiculous.
“It is not good enough.”
Mr Childs, 27, from Trimley St Martin, said he remembers very little after the tackle.
“I was in agony,” he said.
“All I can remember is the tackle and then it’s a bit of a blur.
“After it happened I just realised I couldn’t get up and shuffled to the side.
“I am really grateful to my team-mates helping me out.”
The self-employed sports coach said he is likely to be off the football pitch for the next three to four months.
An ambulance spokeswoman told The Star they were called at 8.27pm and the ambulance crew arrived on scene at 9.39pm, according to their logs.
The spokeswoman said the call was initially graded as requiring an hour response time but was upgraded to a half-hour response at 8.40pm by a support desk nurse.
“Regretfully this response did not meet our usual standards,” she said.
“This was an unusually busy time with a much higher than average number of our ambulances also facing long hospital hand-over times.
“We are however in the process of revising rotas to help get to patients quicker by better matching resources to demand, putting crews in places and at times when patients need them the most.
“We would be happy to talk to this patient about the incident if he would like to contact us and we wish him a full recovery.”
Ipswich Hospital spokeswoman Jan Ingle said: “We want to make sure any ambulance that comes to Ipswich Hospital is back on the road as quickly as possible.
“We are working with EAAST to make sure that happens. It is a joint project involving both trusts.”
n Tell us your experiences of the ambulance service. Write to health reporter Lizzie Parry at Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or you can send an e-mail to lizzie.parry@archant.co.uk
n Opinion – page 6
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9 comments
Bigger Niche, I think you mean TIBIA! He doesn't have (I hope) the parts you wanted him to have a metal plate in....painful!
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ElaineD17
Thursday, September 13, 2012
What a disgrace. It's lucky he only needed to have a metal plate put in his labia, it could have been much worse!
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bigger niche
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
This is a regular occurance for sports injurys in Ipswich. I am involved in a Sunday Morning team and in the past with injuries we have been told by the people on the other end of the line to leave him where he is and wait. The last occurance earlier this year in the pouring rain was when the hospital is less than 5 minutes drive away but took 90 minutes for an ambulance to turn up. I understand and think everyone else does that life threatening emergencies take priority but some of the arrival times are ludicrous!!! Is this not what rapid response is for to take the pressure off the ambulances and deal with less life threatening circumstances?
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Robert Barrell
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
You can see where the problem is here clear as a bell just by reading the `management speak` in the piece. Revising rotas, matching resources.......just send an ambulance when someone needs it you incompetents!
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Supernova6
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Something needs to be done about the hand over of patients at Ipswich Hospital. Tom is a relative of mine.I think what happened to him is dreadful.Even if Tom was not a relative i would still comment.This is happening to oftern.I thought ambulances had sat nav?I am just glad that Tom is ok and it was nothing more serious.
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DT
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Take him by car just as quick
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Lee mundy
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
So Manteo Mitchell breaks his leg in a relay race at the Olympics and carries on running, perhaps Tommy should have tried the same ! Seems odd that there were no qualified first-aiders at the match to apply a splint and get Tommy inside and comfortable.
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mickdann
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Is there no common sense anymore, if you were that close why not put him in a car and take him to hospital!
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Doris
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
An ambulance is diverted from Clacton to deal with this ? Some real questions have got to be asked, again. EAAST blame the delays on hospital handover times - we have been hearing that for a long time but no progress seems to have been made. Another case for Dr Poulter MP I think.
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The original Victor Meldrew
Tuesday, September 11, 2012