A grieving daughter has told how her elderly father kept asking why no one was coming to help him as he waited for an ambulance in “excruciating pain” for seven hours.
Susan Donald questioned why lessons were not learned from the series of errors made on the night her 81-year-old dad, Alexander Riddell, fell and broke his hip as he tried to get up from his chair.
Mr Riddell died at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on January 1, three days after falling at a family member’s home in Aberdeenshire.
The tragic case was raised at Holyrood on Wednesday. Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said it showed the current crisis in the health and ambulance services was not a “recent problem”, and that ministers and NHS chiefs should have acted “months ago”.
Speaking about her family’s ordeal publicly for the first time, Mrs Donald told us the series of recent controversies prompted her to question why the problems and pressures were not addressed earlier, including in the wake of her father’s death.
“Everybody has admitted that they got things wrong that night, and they’ve all undertaken to do certain actions to try and improve things,” she said.
“The thing for me is that I raised this on the 9th of January, and for me to read that people are still experiencing waits that are twice, three times or five times as long…
“I’m wondering how long it takes for the learning to be recognised, and for the action to actually bear fruit.”
“The thing for me is that I raised this on the 9th of January, and for me to read that people are still experiencing waits that are twice, three times or five times as long… I’m wondering how long it takes for the learning to be recognised, and for the action to actually bear fruit.”
Mr Riddell’s family initially phoned a local GP practice in Aberdeenshire when he fell on December 29, and they were advised to call NHS24 on 111, which they did at 5.51pm.
The family were told an ambulance would attend in about an hour, but it did not turn up, so they called 111 back just before 9pm, but were told to contact the ambulance service.
‘Seven hours he lay there’
When they phoned the ambulance service they were informed that help would be sent “as soon as possible”, but the family were forced to call back at 10.30pm when the ambulance had still not appeared.
At 11.56pm, the family were contacted by the service, which said it was aware that there was a call outstanding, and that it had been upgraded to a “higher emergency response”.
The ambulance arrived at 12.35am on December 30, seven hours after the fall, and Mr Riddell got to the Accident and Emergency department at Aberdeen at 2.11am.
Mrs Donald said: “During the entirety of those seven hours, despite three parts of the NHS knowing what had happened, there was no medical assessment and no pain relief.
“He was in excruciating pain. He kept asking why no-one was coming to help him.”
At hospital, it was established that Mr Riddell had broken his hip.
He underwent an operation on December 31 but “basically he never woke up”.
Mrs Donald did not believe the ambulance delay caused her father’s death, and had no criticism for the ambulance service staff, or the care provided at hospital.
Lessons not learned
But she said: “For me it’s the seven hours he lay there, and three parts of the NHS didn’t respond.
“You’ve got the GPs, you’ve got 111 and you’ve got the ambulance service.
“For me, I can get when there are pressures, but there has got to be some way in which all of the parts can work together to deliver some kind of help and support to an individual of that age in that much pain.”
“For me, I can get when there are pressures, but there has got to be some way in which all of the parts can work together to deliver some kind of help and support to an individual of that age in that much pain.”
On January 9, Mrs Donald wrote to the GP practice, NHS 24, Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS Grampian to explain what had happened and to ask them to learn the lessons from it.
Wrong name
She had to go through “four separate feedback systems”, and the ambulance service did not respond until February 22. Even then it spelt her father’s name incorrectly.
NHS Grampian also organised a review involving various agencies, but Mr Riddell’s name was again wrong on the first copy of the report the family received.
Mrs Donald said: “It’s not my area of expertise, but it just feels to me like we’ve got all sorts of independent organisations who actually have to work together very, very effectively for patients and their families to get the care they need.
“And I felt that dad’s experience would indicate that that wasn’t happening as well as it should.”
She added: “We’re going to have as much closure as we’re ever going to get. I think what we are looking for is some concrete improvement that makes things better for other people.
“That’s all that we would ask for.”
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “This must continue to be a very difficult time for Mrs Donald and we’re incredibly sorry for the family’s loss.
“The health service works hard each day to help patients in need but sadly, things can go wrong and we’re so sorry this happened.
“We undertook a full investigation into the timeline of events, working closely with NHS Grampian and NHS24 as part of reviews into the case and met with the family to discuss the details.
“We’d be very happy to discuss any aspect of the case with Mrs Donald or help provide any answers the family need.”
NHS24 and NHS Grampian were also approached for comment.
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