Suffolk man forced to take the bus to hospital during stroke won't be home for Christmas
They'd called an ambulance but it was cancelled
A Suffolk man who had a stroke will miss out on spending Christmas at home after being forced to take the bus to hospital.
Gavin Matthews had called an ambulance - but it was cancelled 20 minutes after the call was made - leaving him no choice but to take the bus.
Gavin Matthews had a stroke on the 16th November.
He and his wife, Lauren, called 111 who sent out an ambulance after going through the stroke evaluation questions, but just 20 minutes, later they were told the ambulance had been cancelled.
With no funds for a taxi, and all family members at work, Lauren told us they were forced to get a bus to the hospital.
She says the hour-long journey was unpleasant: 'People just kept staring at him and laughing at him because he kept having seizures... nobody actually offered to help."
An A&E doctor saw Gavin and said he was fine to go home, but around 1 pm Gavins's symptoms worsened again, and they called 999, who dispatched another ambulance.
However, again, 20 minutes later, the ambulance was cancelled.
This time Lauren's brother and sister were able to take them to the hospital, but Lauren says it was still another 10 hours before Gavin received treatment:
"We got to the hospital, he was seen by triage and we then waited for another 10 hours before he was seen by a doctor."
In that time Lauren said Gavin was 'deteriorating further' and was only given paracetamol: "He didn't receive proper treatment until he was on a ward, which was way after the 10-hour mark."
Gavin currently remains in the hospital and is receiving physiotherapy after losing the ability to walk.
Lauren says Gavin is unhappy with how his experience has been handled: "He's extremely angry about the whole situation because, if that first ambulance wouldn't have cancelled, he wouldn't be in this position now.
"He went into the hospital the first time still able to walk and talk properly. They've destroyed his life. It's a complete nightmare."
Lauren said it's also had an impact on her: "When I found out, I felt completely sick to the stomach, knowing that if the ambulance hadn't cancelled on my husband he wouldn't be in this situation now."
An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said:
“We apologise to Mr Matthews and his wife for their experience.
“When demand on the service is extremely high, we must prioritize those with immediately life-threatening conditions and advise some lower category calls to make their own way to the hospital, once reviewed by a clinician.
“We are working closely with hospitals to reduce handover delays, getting more ambulance crews back out on the road to improve care for our patients, and investing in more senior clinical presence within our control centre to further improve patient safety.”