2:03am Thursday 15th May 2008
By Barry Nelson
MEDICS took five-and-a-half hours to reach a 91-year-old woman who had fallen at her home.
Adelaide Habberjam, of St John's Chapel, in Upper Weardale, County Durham, waited from 8.30pm on Saturday until 2am on Sunday before medical help arrived.
By the time an ambulance arrived to take her Bishop Auckland General Hospital, the great-grandmother, who suffers from heart problems, angina and fluid on the legs, was exhausted, hungry and in tears.
The slow response of the County Durham Primary Care Trust out-of-hours team was described as totally inadequate by Weardale councillor John Shuttleworth, who has written to the trust calling for a full investigation.
Mrs Habberjam was found at about 8pm on her hands and knees by her grand-daughter Debra Thomson, who lives nearby.
Miss Thomson was unable to help her grandmother because she is heavily pregnant with twins.
She said: "I could not get her up and I realised I would need help, so I rang Stanhope Health Centre."
Because it was the weekend, her call was automatically transferred to the Urgent Care Centre at Bishop Auckland General Hospital, which is run by the trust.
Miss Thompson said: "I explained the situation. They said they would ring back because there was another gentleman waiting who was really poorly."
After 45 minutes, she rang back and was told that a district nurse would attend after she had finished another job.
Miss Thomson managed to get a neighbour to help Mrs Habberjam onto her bed, and at 10.15pm a doctor rang and said he would like to admit her to hospital and that an ambulance would be there within an hour.
The centre rang back at 11pm and said an ambulance would not be available until after midnight because of shift changes.
Finally, at 2am, an ambulance arrived and Mrs Habberjam was taken to hospital.
Miss Thompson said: "Next time, I certainly won't go through Urgent Care, I will just ring the emergency number."
A trust spokesman said: "The Urgent Care Centre aims to provide a high-quality service and to respond to all inquiries as quickly as possible.
"We take patients' concerns and complaints very seriously.
"Therefore, should we receive a complaint from the family, we will investigate."
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