Amputee patient held for hours in pain after police MOT check
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Version 0 of 1. A patient recovering from the amputation of his left leg has told of his six-hour ordeal after the ambulance transferring him between hospitals was pulled over by the police for not having an MOT. Dave Chalcroft was in the process of being moved to a hospital nearer his family in Pyle, near Bridgend, after he was forced to undergo an amputation when he developed a diabetic ulcer while working on the Isle of Wight. However, the 53-year-old said he was left without pain relief for hours when traffic police discovered the vehicle was not registered as roadworthy as it made its way from Southampton General hospital to Wales. “I still can’t believe it really happened,” said Chalcroft, who has been recovering in hospital following the incident on 1 October. “The young driver said to me, ‘Dave, I’m being flashed to pull over by the police,’ and when we stopped I asked her to open the side door so I could hear what was being said. “The policeman said it was the weirdest thing he’d had to do, pulling an NHS ambulance over, but he’d checked the ANPR [number-plate recognition system] four times and it definitely had no MOT.” Chalcroft claims the young driver was arrested and cautioned, before the vehicle was escorted to a nearby weighbridge. Owing to Chalcroft’s condition, and the fact that neither ambulance worker was trained to administer morphine or any other pain relief, the ambulance was then escorted to the nearest hospital in Swindon. He said that he felt sorry for the two women who were transporting him, adding: “I just want people to know about what is a massive failure of our NHS. What an absolute embarrassment.” The incident is being investigated by the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS), which confirmed that a private provider working on its behalf conveyed a patient from Southampton General hospital to the Princess of Wales hospital, Bridgend. They added: “SCAS is extremely concerned to hear of the difficulties endured and would have encouraged the patient or his family to have contacted our patient experience team at their earliest convenience with any concerns about his transport. We would encourage them to still do so now. “Before today SCAS had not been notified by the private provider of any problems with the vehicle or any disruption to the journey. The trust is now conducting a thorough investigation as a matter of urgency and will be liaising with the patient and his family directly to inform them fully of the outcomes.” |