82-year-old Wrexham woman's 25 hour wait after breaking hip

That is the heart-breaking realisation of a Wrexham woman whose frail 82-year-old mother had to wait more than 25 hours to see a doctor after breaking her hip.

Margaret Simms, 82, fell at her home at 7.40pm on Thursday.

Within 20 minutes, her family had called for an ambulance - but little did they realise it would be more than 24 hours before she was seen by a doctor and given proper pain relief.

After Mrs Simms endured a night of pain with only prescription painkillers, she still faced hours before an ambulance would arrive.

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Even when she arrived at the Maelor, she had to wait for a further six and a half hours in the back of an ambulance.

Fiona Cargius with mum Margaret Simms.

Her daughter, Fiona Cargius said: "It was 8pm when we rang the ambulance and by the time she got into A&E it was 7.30pm the next day, so it was 23 and a half hours. But she wasn't seen by a doctor until gone nine, so you are talking 25 hours.

"When I think about the amount of pain she was in I could cry. She was an 82-year-old woman laying on the hard bed in the back of an ambulance for hours on end. She must have been in agony. It's just horrible to think about. It breaks my heart, because she just won't complain."

She said the family knew her mum's condition was serious.

Fiona Cargius with mum Margaret Simms.

Fiona added: "My sister rang me and told me mum had fallen and couldn't get off the floor. My husband went round and picked her up. He rang me and told me its more than just a fall, she's crying out in pain. Now my mum is the kind of person who would walk around with a broken leg and you wouldn't know, so I knew then it was serious and there was probably a break.

"She fell at about twenty to eight and we phoned for the ambulance at about 8pm. I knew we would have a bit of a wait, but I didn't expect to wait for more than a couple of hours. I didn't even think she'd have to wait into the night."

"We'd heard from a friend at the hospital that there were about eight ambulances outside the Maelor, so we knew she might have a wait there too. Six years ago I broke my leg and was in an ambulance outside for two-and-half hours, so I thought there might be a wait."

Hi Fiona, we're really sorry to hear about your mother's experience. This is certainly not the service we want to provide. Please DM us if you'd like to raise this with the Trust's concerns team. Sending your mother our thoughts and best wishes.

— Welsh Ambulance (@WelshAmbulance) February 25, 2022

She added: "She is 82-years-old, she's very small and frail, and has quite severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and was in a lot of pain. I thought that all would be taken into consideration and she wouldn't leave her that long. I thought the ambulance wouldn't leave her that long - and if it did that she wouldn't have to wait for hours outside the hospital.

"I appreciate they have emergencies that come in, but I thought that this was an emergency. It was clear that she'd broken her hip.

"It was a nightmare."

Fiona says the family do not blame paramedics or hospital staff who were brilliant when they were able to treat Mrs Simms - she had an operation the next morning.

Margaret Simms with her youngest great grandchild.

But they are terrified that an elderly woman with a broken hip could be left so long.

"They kept ringing my husband and asking how she was, and he'd tell her 'she's in agony'. They'd say ok, there's this long a wait. First it was five-and-a-half hours, then eight hours, then another two-and-half hours. Eventually he had to say 'stop ringing unless you’re telling us an ambulance is on the way. Nothing has changed, she's in agony."

"When the paramedics arrived they were apologetic, but it wasn't their fault or the hospital staff's fault.

"The NHS in Wrexham and in Wales is falling apart."

"They told us there were other people had waited longer than her, and I feel it must've been awful for those people.

As she prepares to care for her mum while she recovers, Fiona added that the ordeal has left her whole family shaken.

Fiona added: "It absolutely terrifies me. My husband has a heart complaint and I worry what if something happened to him. Would we be waiting for hours? Would I lose him because they couldn't send an ambulance in time?

"It's just so frightening."

After hearing about Mrs Simms experiences after the ambulance arrived, the Leader contacted Betsi Cadwalader Health Board on Tuesday for a comment.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at the heath board, said: “We are sorry to hear this patient had to wait outside our emergency department. Our emergency departments continue to be under intense pressure and see patients in order of clinical need.

“Thank you for bringing this incident to our attention. We will ensure it is properly investigated in line with our policies.”

On Friday, Stephen Sheldon, service manager for the Welsh Ambulance Service in North Wales, said the North Wales region had been experiencing high demand. 

He said: "We are very sorry to hear that this patient experienced a much longer than expected wait for an ambulance after their fall.

“Last night, this morning and into the afternoon we are continuing to experience high demand for our services in North East Wales.

“This, combined with many of our emergency resources waiting to handover patients at general hospitals across the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area led to this regrettable delay.

“Welfare checks by our clinicians were performed on the patient and we have now arrived on scene to treat them.

“We would welcome direct contact from the family should they wish to discuss our response in more detail and wish the patient a full and speedy recovery from their ordeal.”