A MOTHER who was left waiting an hour for an ambulance for her daughter has spoken out against “dangerous” response times in Powys.
Tina Harris, of Llanidloes, told the County Times how her 15-year-old daughter had suffered a seizure related to a medical condition. The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday, February 7.
“We were told when we rang that there was only one ambulance on call after 2am,” said Tina. “One ambulance in the whole of Powys. Apparently it has been like this for a while.
“It’s dangerous and if something isn’t done soon lives will be lost.”
Normally in these instances the family is able to call on the services of a 24-hour specialist, but the person who normally helps them was off work.
Tina made the decision to call 999 and they were promised an ambulance was on its way. However, the ambulance took an hour to arrive, leaving Tina to care for her daughter while they waited with the help of her other daughter, Lauren, aged 12.
Tina said: “When they arrived I said to them they might as well not have bothered coming. My daughter had recovered and we didn’t need her to go to hospital, but if I hadn’t been here or been trained in how to care for her then I hate to think what could have happened.”
Tina is a trained carer, and was able to stabilise her daughter’s condition by the time the ambulance arrived. She has now arranged to undergo further training so she can administer the drugs needed to treat her daughter: “I clearly can’t rely on the ambulance service so I’m doing the training myself.”
Tina was full of praise for Mick Bates, the beleaguered AM, and said: “Mick has been a great help so far.
“He knows what the issues are regarding the ambulance service and he listens when you talk to him. These services need more money to trickle down the system so they can get to where people need them most.”
A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “The Welsh Ambulance Service dispatches the nearest available ambulance to an incident, in line with ambulance services across the UK.
"We have plans in place so that there is adequate cover in all areas, but on occasions, ambulance crews may be sent outside their local area.
“At the request of the Health Minister Edwina Hart, a group has been set up to look at unscheduled care in Powys. The group is being led by the Welsh Ambulance Service and the first meeting is scheduled for the end of February.”