Five hour wait for health care call after falls - Community

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Five hour wait for health care call after falls

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Published on 20/03/2013 17:17

A pensioner has slammed a healthcare service.

Ken Lynch of Pyms Way in Sandy said that the amount of time he had to wait for a response from NHS Direct was unacceptable.

The service provides 24/7 support online and by phone.

Ken, 75, said: “On Saturday, March 2 on the way home from visiting my wife, Audrey, in Park House Nursing Home in Sandy, I was taken ill.

“I lost my balance and fell into a garden and after this I fell three more times as well as into my own garden.”

He phoned NHS Direct at 3.30pm but did not get a reply until 4pm. After explaining the problem he was told a nurse would call at 6pm. At 8pm he rang again as he had not heard back and a nurse finally called at 9pm.

The following week Ken’s grandson, 15, collapsed at dinner. He phoned NHS Direct but was told they could not do anything for four hours.

Ken said: “NHS Direct is not fit for purpose.” He wants people to be aware that they can also phone the out of hours duty doctor via their doctors’ surgery.

An NHS Direct spokesman said: “We take the responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our patients very seriously and we are extremely sorry to hear that Mr Lynch did not receive a good service from us.

“We are currently dealing with My Lynch’s complaint and will look into the time it took us to deal with his calls as part of our internal investigation. We will report back to Mr Lynch directly and ensure any lessons we have learnt are acted on quickly and thoroughly.”

Callers are responded to in order of urgency.

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Five hour wait for health care call after falls

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