Patient grateful for public's help

A woman who was unconscious and had to be taken to hospital in a private car because there were no ambulances available has thanked those who helped her.

Lisa Fowkes, 30, suffered an epileptic fit in the street and was unconscious after banging her head.

She said she remembered leaving her home to go shopping, and then being placed in a car to be driven to Newark Hospital.

Lisa said she believed it was a life-threatening situation.

“I split my head open in three places,” she said.

“The people who stopped were brilliant and I cannot thank them enough.”

Lisa said she was angry an ambulance was not available, but added that if people were more responsible and only called one when necessary, one might have been there for her.

“I needed an ambulance,” she said. “It was not fair to expect the people who stopped to help me to assess me to see if I could be moved.

“It was not fair for a woman who had her four-year-old son with her in the car to have to take me to hospital,” she said.

“The people who stopped were brilliant and I cannot thank them enough.”

The Advertiser reported last week how Lisa was seen by a customer at Newark’s Morrisons store who stopped her car and went to help.

The woman called 999 at around noon on Saturday, July 8.

She said she was initially told an ambulance would be sent but was called back 20 minutes later by East Midlands Ambulance Service and told none were available.
A nurse who was passing spoke to EMAS on the phone.

It was decided to take the victim to hospital in a private car.

A spokesman for EMAS said last week the 999 call was assessed as not life-threatening and they had aimed to get an ambulance to the patient within 30 minutes.

She said paramedics and nurses in the control room had been in contact with a nurse who had also stopped to help Lisa.

The spokesman said they received a second 999 call to say the patient no longer needed an ambulance as they were being taken to hospital by someone else.

Mr Greg Cox, paramedic and general manager at EMAS, said he was sorry they were not able to get to the patient sooner.

“Every 999 call is assessed based on the information we are given by the caller,” he said. “While we aim to get to all patients as quickly as possible those with a life-threatening injury or illness have to be seen first.

“On Saturday (July 8) our crews were very busy and responded to 30 life-threatening emergencies in around Newark.

“By cancelling the ambulance we were able to free a crew to respond to the next emergency call.”