Dundalk woman (93) endured 'horrendous ordeal' as she lay waiting four hours for an ambulance

There have been calls for answers after a recent distressing case which saw a 93-year-old woman endure an almost four hour wait for an ambulance to arrive after a fall at her Dundalk home.

The incident unfolded last Friday week when at 5.20pm an ambulance was called for the elderly woman who had fractured her pelvis, but did not arrive until 9.o5pm

The ordeal has raised concerns about emergency response service wait times locally and calls for answers as to what caused such a long delay.

Around 6pm, as the woman lay in agony on the ground, the woman’s family received an update from NAS dispatch indicating a lack of available ambulances.

At 6:30pm, in a desperate plea, the family reached out to dispatch once more, only to discover that the initially assigned ambulance had been redirected to a more severe emergency.

As the minutes ticked by, with no relief in sight, the family's frustration mounted as at 7:15pm, dispatch reported no change in the situation.

At 8.40pm, the family contacted dispatch once more and were again advised there were no ambulances available, but the next one was 18 minutes away.

It wasn't until 9:05pm that an ambulance finally arrived and the woman was brought to the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda where she was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis and a kidney infection.

More details about the woman’s ordeal have been revealed by Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú who highlighted the case at his party’s Ard Fhéis recently and last week contacted the HSE seeking answers about why the woman had to wait so long “in abject pain.”

Deputy Ó Murchú said he had been contacted by the woman’s son, who outlined to him the sequence of events that happened on the evening of November 9 at his mother’s home which is in the south of the town.

Deputy Ó Murchú said this was “a horrendous ordeal” for the 93-year-old woman and for her family, who were frantically trying to get her help for a serious and painful injury.

The Louth TD said she remained lying on the ground because she couldn’t be moved for nearly four hours, adding that:

“She was understandably very afraid, and in so much pain. I have written to the HSE about the matter and they have confirmed to me that they are investigating.

“While the pressures on ambulance crews are understood, this is a dreadful state of affairs and the family needs answers as to why their mother was left in this state for hours, while living just a few kilometres from the ambulance station at the Louth County Hospital.”

When contacted by the Democrat for comment on the incident, a HSE spokeswoman said:

“The HSE cannot comment on individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality.”

Earlier this year the Democrat reported that one Louth patient waited four hours and 50 minutes for a non-cardiac life threatening incident due to the unavailability of an ambulance.