Woman lay on floor for two-and-a-half hours after 999 calls

The husband of a woman who collapsed in agony at her apartment last weekend had to wait nearly two-and-a-half hours for an ambulance to arrive despite making several 999 calls.

Shortly after 7pm on Saturday evening last, the middle-aged woman collapsed on the floor with severe abdominal pain – her husband rang 999 and was put through to the ambulance service.

Her husband told the Galway City Tribune that he was assured by the operator that the ambulance would be there in a short space of time but he had to make a second emergency call at around 7.40pm.

In the course of that call, the man said he was told by the operator that the ambulance would be there in approximately 10 minutes – he was told that the vehicle was in the Newcastle area and on route to their home.

Shortly after 8pm, the husband of the middle-age woman, made contact with HSE West Forum member, Cllr Padraig Conneely, who then phoned the Ambulance Service directly and was told that they would be there in five or 10 minutes.

At this stage, the woman’s condition hadn’t improved and her husband made ‘several more calls’ to the emergency – he said that the ambulance eventually arrived around the 9.30pm mark.

The woman was rushed into the A&E Department of University Hospital Galway (UHG) were after a wait of approximately 12 hours, she was moved to a ward in the hospital.

As of yesterday, the woman was still receiving treatment for her condition and is understood to be recovering well.

The husband of the woman told the Galway City Tribune that the whole episode was very distressing but felt from his calls to the emergency services that the delay was based on some kind of priority rating system they had.

For the full story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune