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Seriously injured SW London cyclist in 90-minute wait for paramedicsLondon Ambulance (via Oxyman on Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA 3.0)

Seriously injured SW London cyclist in 90-minute wait for paramedics

Woman in her 60s was involved in collision with car in Teddington this morning
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Dec 01, 2014 12:57
38

A London cyclist who was seriously injured in a collision with a car this morning lay on the ground for more than 90 minutes before paramedics arrived to treat her, reports the London Evening Standard.

Police were called to the scene of the incident in Broad Street, Teddington at 8.51 am, with officers putting a blanket over the woman, aged in her 60s, who had been knocked from her bike.

However, the newspaper says that according to witnesses, it was not until 10.25am that paramedics reached the scene to treat the victim.

The Standard pointed out that the closest hospital, Teddington Memorial Hospital, is just seven minutes on foot from the crash scene.

However, that hospital has a walk-in minor injuries unit rather than providing a full A&E service, the closest of which is at Kingston Hospital, more than two miles away.

London Assembly Member Stephen Knight, who is a Liberal Democrat councillor for Teddington, tweeted: “Horrified that a cyclist was left in the middle of the road in central Teddington this morning for over an hour before the ambulance arrived.”

Local website Teddington Town tweeted a picture of the scene.

 

The Standard said it had contacted London Ambulance Service (LAS) for a comment. For Category A (immediately life-threatening) calls, LAS has a target response rate of atending 75 per cent of incidents within 8 minutes.

Data published for the period March to August 2014 show that the target was achieved in every borough at the start of the period, with a London-wide average of 81 per cent.

Since then, response rates have fallen to 62 per cent by August, the last month for which data are available, and the third straight month in which that 75 per cent target was missed in every single borough.

A spokesman for LAS told the Standard: “We were called at 8.55am to reports of a road traffic collision on Broad St in Teddington.

“From the information provided, we were told the patient was conscious, breathing and alert

“We sent an ambulance crew at 9.08am but they were diverted to a patient in a more serious condition.

“A second ambulance was dispatched at 9.23am but they were also diverted to a patient in a more serious condition.

“A crew arrived on scene at 10.27am but we remained in contact with the patient throughout who had lower back pain but was not in a serious condition.

“She was taken to West Middlesex Hospital, but not on blue lights.

“We are very sorry we couldn’t be there sooner and for any distress or discomfort this may have caused but we have to prioritise patients in a serious or life-threatening condition.”

Teddington
London Ambulance Service
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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38 comments

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Zee replied to Matt_S | 9 years ago
0 likes
Matt_S wrote:

That's less than 2km from A&E.

Figures like that are mentioned on a regular basis, forgetting the fact that Ambulances don't live at A&E. They have patrol areas. The proximity to the hospital only affects your transport time rather than the response time.

As much as it seems unfair and against the grain of the inherent national need to queue, an ambulance response and the subsequent treatment in A&E is prioritised by severity, not by the duration of the wait, 4hour treatment window be damned.

Stabbing/severe bleeding/heart attack/brain injury/stopped breathing will always take priority for an ambulance dispatch over a cyclist vs vehicle who is conscious and responsive. And having been laid on the pavement waiting following a bike vs car RTC myself, I have no problem with that.

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rogermerriman replied to Zee | 9 years ago
0 likes

quite, I had a serious head injury last year, no idea what happen, but looking at the times on the records/GPS etc I was rushed to St Georges triaged CT scans ECG etc well within the hr, no complaints here!

Avatar
SideBurn replied to Zee | 9 years ago
0 likes
Zee wrote:
Matt_S wrote:

That's less than 2km from A&E.

Figures like that are mentioned on a regular basis, forgetting the fact that Ambulances don't live at A&E. They have patrol areas. The proximity to the hospital only affects your transport time rather than the response time.

As much as it seems unfair and against the grain of the inherent national need to queue, an ambulance response and the subsequent treatment in A&E is prioritised by severity, not by the duration of the wait, 4hour treatment window be damned.

Stabbing/severe bleeding/heart attack/brain injury/stopped breathing will always take priority for an ambulance dispatch over a cyclist vs vehicle who is conscious and responsive. And having been laid on the pavement waiting following a bike vs car RTC myself, I have no problem with that.

As I have said above pissed and fallen over takes priority over bike v. car. Incidents like you describe are few and far between in the Ambulance service. They spend most of their time dealing with 'social need', some people ring 999 4+ times A DAY! Always the same symptoms, never want to go to hospital...

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levermonkey | 9 years ago
0 likes

Note to anyone caring for a casualty and facing a delay in the cold.

If it is not possible to remove the casualty from the ground but it is at all possible, without aggravating the casualty's injuries, to get a blanket under the casualty, then do so.

A blanket under the casualty is worth three on top.

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northstar replied to levermonkey | 9 years ago
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levermonkey wrote:

Note to anyone caring for a casualty and facing a delay in the cold.

If it is not possible to remove the casualty from the ground but it is at all possible, without aggravating the casualty's injuries, to get a blanket under the casualty, then do so.

A blanket under the casualty is worth three on top.

*do not attempt to move any person lying on the ground after being hit by a motorist / motor vehicle or any road user really unless you know for sure / 100% confident they do not have any back / spinal injuries, you could accidentally paralyse them for life / make *any* injuries they have worse.

Your first course of action should be to dial 999 and get a medical / first responder and ambulance to the scene asap (if it requires it - the ABC check will help you with this - assuming you know how to do it).

For sure some people, particularly elderly would need to be kept warm but just exercise caution / common sense in doing so.

This advice is given out on the emergency responder programs on tv for a reason.

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andybwhite | 9 years ago
0 likes

Target culture with in the NHS? Once a target has been missed (ie the 8 minutes) it doesn't matter by how much its missed, you might as well prioritise those incidents where the target can still be met leaving those with missed target times to wait longer.
I'm not saying that's what happened here but it does happen elsewhere in the NHS eg with waiting queues and changed appointments.
Hope she gets better soon and that the reason for the delay is identified and acted upon.

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racyrich | 9 years ago
0 likes

Does the ambulance service reclaim its costs from the at-fault's insurers? That's help fund a few more.

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mrmo | 9 years ago
0 likes

only a cyclist, brought it on themselves....

SARCASM!!!

I hope nothing too serious and that she is able to stay active, I have known someone who in similar circumstances broke a hip and that was their cycling days over, and pretty detrimental to walking.

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