A grandmother who fell in her garden leaving blood pooling in her leg and passing out in pain was left waiting for an ambulance for 15 hours when no vehicles were available. Grandmother Marie Williams, who has a club foot, punctured an artery in her leg and developed a haematoma after falling on June 28.
Mrs Williams, 74 and from Pontypridd, initially tried to seek help from her GP and local minor injuries unit but when they were unable to assist called 999. She said she made the first call at around 7pm when her leg was swollen and blackening from pools of blood. When her leg "erupted" at around 3am on June 29 she called again and then once again a few hours later at 8am.
She said she was offered a taxi but with being unable to walk and with no wheelchair available she had no option but to refuse. Eventually, with no other option, her grandson took her to A&E in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Mrs Williams says she has now been told that when she fully recovers she will never have full 100% use of her right leg. She also has a club foot on her other foot which affects her mobility. After falling on a step in her garden she started to develop blood clots as part of a haematoma in her leg. As a result her leg swelled to twice its usual size before bursting – taking the skin tissue away from some of her calf.
“What happened was that I had a bit of a fall. I was born with a club foot so I was saving my club foot and I just went down and banged my leg. It was around 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning," she said. "It was around the afternoon time when I noticed that it had started to swell. I was looking at my leg and because I’m on blood thinners the blood gathers more.
“I rang the surgery and they said: 'If you’ve got any injury you have to go to A&E.' And I said: ‘But it’s coming up, and it’s black, and I’m frightened. I’m worried and I’m concerned.'"
Mrs Williams then went to Llwynypia minor injuries unit who said they were unable to see her without an appointment. The pensioner said her daughter had said there were several ambulances already waiting outside A&E so she decided to wait and see whether the swelling would reduce.
"I put some little ice packs around it and hoped it would go down. It got to around 7pm and I said to my husband that I would have to ring 999. So I did. Well, they didn’t come. They said: ‘Would you like a taxi?’ And I said: ‘No, I can hardly walk, I can’t put my foot down’.
“And then of course it goes on and on and on. It was the very next day before I got to A&E and that was only from borrowing a wheelchair and my grandson taking me. I have no idea how I got in and out of that wheelchair.'"
At around 3am Mrs Williams' leg, which until now had been swollen, started to bleed as her skin burst from the pressure. She said: "It was like an alien coming out. I was looking at the floor and thinking: ‘Where’s that blood coming from?’ It was all over the floor and the walls. I rang again and they said they’d get me a taxi to which I said: ‘How am I going to get in a taxi? Have you got a chair?' To which they said: 'No'."
She said she had a call at 8am from a critical care nurse who explained to Mrs Williams and her husband Keith, 80, how to stop her wound – which by this point was deep and causing her to lose blood – by using a sling as a tourniquet. "My poor hubbie was in tears," she said. "We couldn't let it go as the blood was spurting up the wall. I said: 'I am really worried.'"
After waiting almost 15 hours for an ambulance Mrs Williams' grandson Chay left his job as a carer to take her to A&E and find her a wheelchair. She arrived at the hospital at 10am and was seen by a doctor at around 2pm. By this time she had around five tea towels trying to pool off the blood.
“I know I know in my heart of hearts there are so many people out there that need [the ambulance] – crash victims, heart problems – but I was bleeding so much. I honestly believe maybe the doctors could have siphoned off some of the blood – somebody could have seen me.
"When I finally saw a doctor he said: ‘Oh my God, this is going to be painful’. He said: ‘We will need to get gas and air’ and I passed out then. They had to slap me on my chest then to bring me back – I had a big bruise from where they were trying to bring me around.
"He had to put four fingers underneath the skin and he was bringing out clots like it was yogurt. My grandson is a carer so he has seen some things but he said: 'Granny, I’ve never seen anything like that'."
By now Mrs Williams said she was passing out in pain and had to be revived by the doctor. "When I passed out he had to hit me hard on the chest to bring me back," she said. "Thankfully I was given gas and air for the pain."
After receiving care in the emergency department Mrs Williams was sent home at 7pm – some 24 hours since she first called 999 – where she still receives visits three times a week from district nurses . "The amount of dressings they have to put on here must cost the NHS hundreds. They have to be so so careful. They’ve got to take all the dressings off then under the plastic sheet if it hasn’t come through they have to wipe it, clean it, dress it. [The doctor] said it was going to take two months to heal – the two months are nearly passed now.
"I don’t think I will need skin grafts but the leg is never going to be the same again. If I had another leg and not a club foot I’d probably have been okay but my club foot relies on my other leg.
"I have to say, the district nurses have been wonderful. They have been so caring and I can’t fault them – they are so busy. I have had lots of flowers and visits. I am so lucky to be here."
Sonia Thompson, assistant director of operations (emergency medical service) at the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust, said: “We are deeply sorry to hear about Mrs Williams’ experience, which we know will have been distressing for all involved. There remains significant pressure across the urgent and emergency care system and it means we can’t always get to patients as quickly as we would like.
“This is as frustrating for our staff as it is for patients. On the day of Mrs Williams’ call we had more than 1,215 calls to 999 and lost 879 hours outside hospital emergency departments across Wales.
“During times of significant pressure we sometimes send a taxi to transport patients to hospital but only when a clinician has assessed the patient first and determined it safe and clinically appropriate to do so. We hope Mrs Williams is making a good recovery and would invite Mrs Williams or a representative to contact the trust directly if they wish to discuss her experience in more detail.”
READ NEXT
- Nearly 700 doctors could leave the Welsh NHS due to below-inflation pay rise, union claims
- Understaffed wards, nurses in tears, and using foodbanks: The NHS staff struggling to survive
'My six-year-old son has been in hospital 15 times in four years with severe asthma'
'My precious baby boy died in my arms just 90 minutes after he was born'
