Glasgow pensioner forced to wait hour for ambulance after fall just yards from Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s entrance
A PENSIONER was forced to lie on the ground in the pouring rain for an hour waiting on an ambulance - just yards from Glasgow's superhospital entrance.
The elderly woman, in her 70s, took a tumble outside the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital at around 8pm on Monday night.
Horrified members of the public raised the alarm with A&E staff and 999 operators.
But they were told it could take four hours for mercy crews to arrive due to "high level of demand" while the "very distressed" OAP lay wrapped in a blanket .
Security teams cordoned off the area before hospital staff eventually rushed to her aid an hour later.
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One onlooker told the Evening Times: “She was lying in the gutter in the rain, soaked. Security had cordoned the area off and got blankets.
“People had gone into the hospital for help and someone phoned for an ambulance. They were told it could take four hours.
“The woman was in severe pain and very distressed.
“It was only when a nurse off duty went back into the hospital and put in an emergency call that a team came out."
The pensioner had only just been discharged from the GP assessment unit when she had fell near the entrance.
Ambulance crews have now apologised to the pensioner over the ordeal.
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We were experiencing a high level of demand on that particular evening but would like to apologise for any unnecessary delays.
The woman was in severe pain and very distressed."
Hospital onlooker
“We would encourage this patient to get in touch so that we can investigate this matter.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde added: “We would like to thank our staff for providing care and assistance to a patient who fell on the road outside the front entrance to the QEUH at approximately 8pm on Monday night.
“Our security staff were immediately alerted to the incident and gave assistance to the lady including providing protection from the wind and rain, and the traffic.
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“They also called for an ambulance to attend but unfortunately the Scottish Ambulance Service was extremely busy that night and rather than wait clinical staff from the hospital were called to attend.
“Our clinical staff arranged for appropriate equipment to be available to assist the lady from the ground and she was taken back into the Emergency Department just after 9pm.
“She had previously been seen in the GP assessment unit and discharged.”
The woman’s current condition is not known.
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