A great-grandmother who fell and suffered a stroke waited more than nine hours for an ambulance to arrive, her family claims. Jean Margaret Pitt, described as a woman with an "amazing memory", collapsed at her daughter's home in Newbridge, Caerphilly, at around 10.30am on Friday, October 14.
Despite repeated calls to 999 and explaining to operators that the 86-year-old was showing the telltale signs of a stroke - such as a drooping face, arm weakness and difficulty with speech - an ambulance didn't arrive until around 7.45pm. Jean was taken to The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran and was transferred to Ystrad Mynach Hospital where she is making a slow but steady recovery.
Her son-in-law Stephen Watts said that although he couldn't fault the care given to Jean when she was eventually seen by paramedics and taken to hospital, the delay could have cost the pensioner her life. "Within seconds of [the ambulance crew] arriving, the woman said the four-and-a-half hour window for a certain type of treatment had been missed which would have given my mother-in-law a better chance of recovery," he said.
