An ambulance with blue lights flashing raced to an Angus pensioner’s door after she rang up NHS 24 to ask for her bandages to be changed.
NHS 24 and the Scottish Ambulance Service defended its decision despite Diane Shaw, 68, describing the incident as “a waste of time and resources.”
Mrs Shaw, who lives in Kirriemuir, suffers from health difficulties including lymphoedema which causes her legs to swell and makes them infected.
She also has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which leaves her breathless, which is why the ambulance was requested by NHS 24.
Mrs Shaw told The Courier:“I have an infection on my legs so they are dressed twice weekly by the wonderful community nurses. If they need re-dressed outwith these days we are to contact them, which we do.
“We rang NHS 24 after ringing the nurses’ number at about 8.45am as we hoped to get them prior to starting their rounds,” she added.
“My leg was painful but the infection produced an offensive smell, hence the need for it to be changed as quickly as possible.
“The NHS 24 operator fired lots of questions despite my husband’s attempts to interject to say we just needed the community nurses.
“The person was brusque and said we needed to answer the questions. When the questions had eventually finished my husband asked if she would call the nurses.
“She said no but she would be calling an ambulance. My husband said we simply needed my legs redressed. The NHS 24 operator said that as I was breathless it was necessary.
“I took the phone and said that the reason I am breathless is that I have COPD and I simply needed a nurse.
“I pleaded with her not to send an ambulance but she ended the call and within 10 minutes an ambulance turned up at my door with all lights blazing.
“They thought someone was having a heart attack and raced up my drive. We explained what had happened and we had simply tried to get a nurse and the guys said this happens a lot after people have spoken to NHS 24.
“The crew eventually called for the community nurses but what a waste of their time and resources. The operator just wouldn’t listen if I had said I’d broken my toenail she would have sent an ambulance.”
“I felt so guilty because the ambulance and the crew may well have been diverted from someone who really needed it.”
Mrs Shaw said she believes NHS 24 must look at the way it deals with calls and queried how many times ambulances may have been called out needlessly.
She said: “This should be looked at nationally as some areas may be working better than others. How does the check-list work? Should there be more training?
“I understand that the people are doctors or trained nurses but these are some of the questions which need to be clarified.”
NHS 24 and Scottish Ambulance Service Medical Director Professor George Crooks said: “All calls to NHS 24 are assessed thoroughly and a series of questions asked of the caller which are aimed at ensuring the safety of the patient.
“NHS 24 works closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide the most appropriate service to each patient and every case is assessed on the basis of the presenting symptoms.
“Given the presenting symptoms in this case, we believe the call was appropriately assessed, but if Mrs Shaw has any concerns, we would ask her to contact us directly and we would be more than happy to discuss these with her.”