An 89-year-old woman who lay in "excruciating pain" after taking a hard fall waited for more than three hours for an ambulance before her daughter took her to get medical attention.
The woman had just arrived at community centre Friendship House on Putney Way in Manukau about just before 9.45 am today to take part in a social group run by Communicare.
Gary, an employee at Friendship House, said the woman was making her way up the stairs with her walker when she lost her balance and fell backwards.
The woman crashed onto the pavement and cried out in pain.
He said: "People ran out and tried to give her first aid, we quickly rang 111 and said 'this 89-year-old woman is bleeding, she's fallen down, you need to get someone here'. And they never arrived.
"It must have been agonising for her. She wasn't in a good state.
"I know there's a lot of stress on front line staff but it's up to someone to make sure that they are resourced appropriately so 89-year-old women don't lay in the sun in agony."
As the woman was a Communicare client and they were unsure about what the extent of the damage was, Friendship House management thought it was best to wait for emergency services.
Friendship rents out rooms to Communicare who works with aged and disabled people to give them social interaction and connection around the country.
Gary said: "I just feel so bad for her. I never thought I'd have to wait four or five hours for an ambulance."
"She was meant to be staying for a couple of hours but ended up staying for almost four hours. She was in acute pain, she couldn't move."
Her daughter arrived just after 1pm and she was carried into the car with the family member.
Gary said she was "crying out in pain" when she was taken to the car.
He said: "If she had fractured her femur she could have bled out before anyone got here."
The woman's daughter told 1News she left work at Airport Oaks to collect her mum to get her seen by a doctor.
She said she was relieved people stayed with her while her mum waited in the hot sun.
The woman, who 1News has chosen to keep anonymous, said "for an elderly lady, it is a long time to wait. Obviously they assess that it's not life-threatening for an elderly patient but they have bones of brittle and she was in excruciating pain, she's also diabetic."
"She's very, very fragile, she's 89 years old."
Although she admits it was disappointing paramedics didn't reach her today, she says her mum has been helped in the past when she's needed them and hopes it was just a bad day.
"She carries an alert bracelet and she's pushed it when she's been in need and they've been there."
St John responds
St John confirmed they were called to a fall at 9:48am today.
"The caller was advised help had been arranged," Olive Taylor, GM Ambulance Operations - Ambulance Communications said.
"However there were delays in the area and all resources were currently committed to other more life-threatening calls. In this case a referral for further Clinical assessment for the patient was organised.
"Our Clinical Team performed three welfare checks on the patient. At 12.48pm, during one of these welfare checks, the caller cited that private transport was being arranged for the patient and that they would cancel the ambulance if their vehicle arrived before the ambulance did. At 1.30pm the ambulance was cancelled by the caller."
Brigid Curran, manager at Communicare, was unaware of the situation and declined to comment when contacted by 1News.
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