Oxfordshire man waited five hours for ambulance on the floor

Leon Moody, 72, said he has ‘lost faith in the health service’ after his scary experience. 

He fell over at his home, in Kingham, at around 9am on October 5.

‘Thankfully’, he said, his carer was round at the time and was able to call for an ambulance and let his son, Mark, know about the fall. 

Mark, 35, from Chipping Norton, raced over to help and wait for the ambulance to arrive. 

My Dad wants people to see this
Was led there waiting for an ambulance for nearly 4 hours!!!! I didn't want to risk moving him

When I did ring 999 again it took 5 minutes to get put through to someone, even then it was in Yorkshire, we're in Oxfordshire#CPC21 #UniversalCredit pic.twitter.com/mKzLSsRTPt

— Mark Moody (@MarkOCDVersion) October 6, 2021

He told the Oxford Mail: “An hour went by and we had not heard anything and nobody had arrived. Obviously, my dad was in a lot of pain and was distressed because of having to lie on the floor like that, so I rang 999 and it was just ringing and ringing. It was going on like this for about three minutes.  

“I got through to someone and explained to them that my dad has had a fall. The call handler was getting the details up and he said: ‘You are in the south-east aren’t you?’”

He confirmed the pair’s location before saying: “You do realise you’re through to the Yorkshire department, don’t you?”

He said that the call handler told him the local service was so busy Yorkshire was the nearest call centre to answer. 

Mark said: “I was gobsmacked. I couldn’t believe they had put me through to them. I could not believe it.” 

Another hour went by with no sign of the ambulance and Mark was too scared to move his elderly dad in case he was seriously injured and more damage would be done. 

Leon and Mark Moody. Picture: Mark Moody

A while later he called back on the non-emergency line and was put through to a call operator who was “really apologetic”. 

Five hours after the original 999 call was made, an ambulance finally arrived.

Mark said the paramedics were brilliant but added: “I was just sat there thinking, what if my dad was having a heart attack or something really serious? Those minutes they took to answer would have made all the difference between life or death. I have never seen anything like it.”

Leon is said to be doing ‘ok’ after his experience but he wants ‘people to take notice of what is going on’ and for his ‘voice to be heard’. 

On Tuesday, November 2 South Central Ambulance Service responded to the Oxford Mail's request for comment. 

A spokesperson for South Central Ambulance Service said: “While we always want to respond to all our patients as soon as we can, calls are prioritised based on clinical need to ensure those who are sickest receive the care and treatment they require as quickly as possible.

“Unfortunately there will be occasions when this prioritisation means some patients will wait longer, particularly at times of extreme pressure on the service as we are seeing currently, but we would be happy to talk the patient and their family to explain more about this process if they would like to get in touch with us directly via our patient experience team.”