Man drove 170 miles to Ipswich after ’12-hour ambulance wait’

A landlord drove 170 miles (272km) to take his tenant to the hospital after she faced a 12-hour wait for an ambulance.

Steve Trumm, 63, was in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, when he received a call from his tenant in Ipswich, Suffolk, to say she had severe back pain and was unsure what to do on Tuesday.

A 111 call operator said they would dispatch an ambulance, but the service was facing extreme pressure so Mr Trumm decided to make the journey himself.

East of England Ambulance Service said it had to prioritise patients “based on clinical need”. The Department for Health and Social Care said it had a mission to “get the health service back on its feet”.

Mr Trumm first rang 111 at about 22:00 BST to get help for his tenant who is originally from Ukraine.

She had reported she was unable to move and was lying on the floor.

“The operator decided she was sufficiently concerned that [my tenant] should have an ambulance and be taken into hospital,” Mr Trumm said.

“At 01:30 I got up and looked at my phone and there was a message [from my tenant] saying that she would try to crawl up the stairs because she was so cold laying on the floor downstairs and she wasn’t sure that the ambulance would turn up.”

Mr Trumm made enquiries and was told his tenant was in for a 12-hour wait for an ambulance due to a high demand.

“That’s when I decided I’ve got to get in the car, I can’t leave her,” he said.

“She’s alone in this country, she only has me and my family as people she can turn to.

“That’s not acceptable in my book so I left Bromsgrove in my van and drove to [Ipswich].”

Mr Trumm managed to get his tenant to the hospital in his own van at about 05:00, but now he wants to see improvements made to the NHS service to improve delays.

“The NHS is falling to pieces,” he said.

“I can’t even get doctor appointments for myself – I’ve had to go private last week to check out some medical issues I’ve got.

“I want to know who’s responsible for this.”

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said Mr Trumm and his tenant were advised about ambulance delays due to the service “experiencing severe pressure” and were told to call back if her conditioned worsened.

“As an ambulance service we must prioritise patients based on clinical need,” the spokesperson added.

“An ambulance was dispatched to the patient’s address twice, but on both occasions these ambulances had to be diverted to more serious medical emergencies.

“We were subsequently informed that the patient had made her own way to hospital and her request for an ambulance was cancelled.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care added that this was “another sign of our broken NHS”.

“It is our mission to get the health service back on its feet, including improving ambulance response times, and to create a 10-year plan for the NHS,” they added.