A pensioner who endured a six-hour wait for an ambulance after dislocating her new hip replacement was left "screaming in pain". She also suffered a silent heart attack.
Speaking about her hip agony, Jeanette Smith, 78, from Formby, said she had "never known pain like it". The massive delay in care happened after the ambulance service marked Jeanette's case as "less urgent".
As reported by ECHO, the former journalist and lecturer said she was left lying on the floor of her bedroom after her hip dislocated while she was putting on her shoes on Tuesday, October 25. She was alone when the accident happened but her husband soon returned home.
When it was clear she could not be taken in the car to the hospital her husband called for an ambulance. Despite the agonising pain and clear distress she was in, an ambulance had still not arrived hours later.
It emerged following multiple phone calls that North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) had classed Jeanette as a category four patient. The category four classification is "for people with less urgent conditions", according to the NWAS website.
The classification means advice can often be given over the phone and if an ambulance is needed, it will aim to get to a patient within three hours. An ambulance finally arrived after six hours.
Jeanette told the ECHO: "When my husband called to ask where the ambulance was, the person on the other end of the phone said 'I can hear your wife screaming'. When paramedics arrived, they told me they had never given someone so much morphine which I think shows the seriousness of it all. I shouldn't have been left on the floor for so long."
Jeanette hoped to be taken straight to Wigan Hospital so she could be operated on by her specialist. But when this was not an option she was taken to Aintree Hospital.
When she arrived at Aintree she spent four hours in a crowded corridor before she was eventually fast-tracked to A&E and then on to theatre. She also learnt she had suffered a silent heart attack.
The 78-year-old said: "The care I had from the paramedics when they came and from everyone at Aintree was amazing. They were all very caring and reassuring.
"But the healthcare system is broken. All the staff are working under incredibly hard conditions."
Dr Jim Gardner, chief medical officer at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is widely recognised that Accident and Emergency departments are faced with significant pressures. We are taking necessary action to maintain safety, care and dignity of patients in our hospitals, which is our overriding priority.
“I would like to thank patients and their families for their understanding at this time. I also want to thank all our colleagues for their commitment to delivering care for all the people who arrive at our hospitals and for their exceptionally hard work on behalf of our patients.
"We continue to work collaboratively with our partner organisations in health and social care, such as North West Ambulance Service, to manage the pressures on our services." Jeanette made a formal complaint to NWAS questioning why she was classed as a category four patient.
A spokesperson for NWAS told the ECHO the service would not comment "until a full investigation" into the formal complaint had taken place.
