'It was a disgrace' - Derry footballer who suffered a double leg fracture taken to hospital in a Transit van as no ambulance was available

A Derry footballer in a local league who suffered a double fracture and dislocated leg had to be transported to hospital in a ‘dirty’ van because an ambulance was not available in the area.

A Foyle Wanderers player, who did not wish to be named, was playing in the Premiere League of the North West Junior League against Lisahally last Saturday at the Lisahally pitch (pictured above) when he sustained the injuries.

The man, who usually plays in the reserve team, was brought on during the fixture.

However, he was not long on the pitch before the unfortunate incident took place.

Nigel Campbell, Manager of Foyle Wanderers, said: “It was the start of the second half and it was just about 10 minutes in.

“It wasn’t malicious, he went over the top of the ball and it broke above the ankle resulting in a two fractures and a dislocated leg.

“When I saw that his ankle was wrapped around his boot I knew it was bad.

“We rang the ambulance but we were told there were none available.”

Mr Campbell said that the player began to shiver due to the cold and shock setting in.

“He was in a lot of pain but he was brave enough then about 10 minutes after it, he started to go into shock. The physio put a blanket around him to try and warm him up.

“We waited a half hour and rang again and were told that it would be at least another hour and that the nearest ambulance was in Limavady and had to go to another emergency.

“So we were told, if we could, to get him into a van or car.”

Mr Campbell said that a number of men at the scene helped carry the injured player and had to take him to hospital in the back of a Transit van.

“We got a board under his leg and three or four men helped to get him into a Transit van,” he said.

“We were lucky there was a nurse at a fun fair up the street and the physio was able to give him some paracetamol but would hardly have helped.

“It wasn’t nice having to put him into the back of a dirty Transit van when he was in a lot of pain and shaking, in a state of shock.

Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan was with his children in a nearby park when the incident happened.

He said that there is not enough ambulance provision in the city and that crews are ‘stretched extremely thinly’ and are under immense pressure.

“Firstly, my thoughts are with the poor man who suffered this horrific injury,” he said.

“This is indicative of the difficulties facing the Ambulance Service here. This is clearly a resources issue; we just don’t have enough in the city.

“There aren’t enough crews or service for a city with this population, we have the same amount of people we had doing the job 30 or 40 years ago and the city has grown.

"It’s something that seriously needs addressed.”

Mr Durkan said that he will be writing to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) requesting a meeting to discuss provision in the area.

He said: “This concern has been raised previously and there has not been a satisfactory outcome. There have been attempts to remodel with the use of a rapid response vehicle but we need four crews and three at night.

“It’s not good enough and it’s not fair on the staff who are doing a job where they are stretched extremely thin, don’t get breaks and are under a lot of stress. They need more support and we need the care to be getting to people.” Discomfort A spokesperson for NIAS said: “The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service received a call at 15:02 on Saturday 31 March 2018 to report a male with a possible broken leg at football pitches in Strathfoyle.

“From the information provided, the call was determined to be Category C, neither serious nor life- threatening, and suitable for referral to the Clinical Support Desk (CSD) Paramedic within the Emergency

“The CSD Paramedic contacted the caller at 15:19 and reviewed the patient’s condition.

They confirmed that the patient was still conscious and breathing, and that they weren’t deteriorating before asking the caller to help carry out checks to determine the severity of the condition.

“The caller was advised that the closest available ambulance would be coming from Limavady and might take some time to arrive.

“The CSD Paramedic asked the caller to attempt transferring the patient to a car with the help of others. The paramedic also advised administration of pain relief, if available at scene, to ease the patient’s discomfort.

“During this time a Rapid Response Paramedic was dispatched to the scene to administer stronger pain relief.

“At 15:27 NIAS received a call stating that the patient had been successfully transferred into a vehicle and an ambulance was no longer required as they would transport him to hospital.”