Villagers have hit out after a man was left in agony following a football injury for more than 40 minutes because ambulance control staff couldn’t find his location.
Nick Rawlings tore his knee tendons during a match between Brockton Rovers and Steam Wagon in the QMS Consolation Cup on playing fields at Worthen Village Hall.
One of the players immediately called 999, but despite giving the location, street name and two postcodes, ambulance control staff receiving the call in Wales said they did not know where the village was.
Rob Crossland, one of the players, said: “The actual response time was a good 40-odd minutes which I thought was a long time. The lad who called 999 was on the phone for five minutes. If it was a potential fatal accident that five minutes could make a difference.”
Ward councillor Heather Kidd has since written to Shropshire Council and West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
She said: “Worthen is in England and has a Shrewsbury telephone number and a Shrewsbury post code and there is no reason to divert the call to Wales.”
Chris Kowalik, WMAS spokesman, said they received a call at 11.13am on February 28 from the Welsh Ambulance Service to go to a football pitch in Worthen.
He said: “The 999 call, made from a mobile phone, was directed to the Welsh Ambulance Service and not the West Midlands Ambulance Service. There was no conversation between the 999 caller and any of our staff. An ambulance crew from Shrewsbury arrived on scene only 16 minutes after the call was received by West Midlands Ambulance Service from the Welsh crew. This was a Category C case which required attendance within 30 minutes.”
A spokesperson for the Welsh Ambulance Service said: “Due to issues of confidentiality we are unable to discuss individual incidents, but we are aware of this matter and are investigating the details surrounding the call.”
By Charlotte Hester
