Woman who fell in Romford town centre receives apology after 73 minute wait for ambulance
Market Place, Romford, where the woman fell last Saturday - Credit: Archant
Ambulance services have apologised to a woman who waited more than an hour for medical attention to arrive after hitting her head on the pavement.
Romford MP Andrew Rosindell calling for urgent action - Credit: Archant
The fall happened at about 12.30pm last Saturday in the busy Market Place of Romford town centre.
An ambulance arrived 73 minutes after receiving the original call.
This is despite an ambulance station being in Oldchurch Road – five minutes away from where the fall happened.
Romford MP Andrew Rosindell was leafleting nearby from where the woman fell.
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He said: “I am completely aware of the poor response times here compared to the rest of the country.
“I was out with the ambulance services in March to see how they operate and the pressures they are under.
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“But clearly response times like on Saturday are unacceptable and I will certainly be appealing for urgent action.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed they were called to a woman who had fallen over adding: “From the information provided to us by the caller, the patient was conscious, breathing and alert, so not requiring an immediate ambulance response.
“A clinician from the control room conducted a further assessment of the patient’s condition at 1.46pm and our response was subsequently upgraded, with an ambulance arriving on scene at 1.54pm.
“We treated a woman at the scene for a head injury and took her to hospital. We are sorry that we couldn’t be there sooner.”
The latest figures show ambulance response times in the borough are not meeting targets.
Havering response times for the most immediately life-threatening calls fell below the 75 per cent target of reaching people within eight minutes between March-August 2015.
In August 2015, just 68 per cent of “red calls” were reached within eight minutes.
