I have been trying to walk more since the toe injury has settled. This is a case of use it or lose it as a few months back I was struggling to walk at all thanks to a sprained knee and angina – possibly the result of long covid. Now as I am determined to live long enough to collect my pension (a reward for a lifetime of hard work that I paid for incidentally, not a benefit) this exercise is a must and slowly things are improving. So, we set out for an enjoyable stroll on the Viking Way in the Spring sunshine, followed by breakfast at the Pantry and a quick trip to the Coop to pick up the groceries we forgot last time.

It was on the last leg home that it happened. As we emerged from the alley, we saw an elderly lady fall. She had been out shopping with her carer and suffered an epileptic seizure. The girl helped her up and then she just flopped again, was lowered gently to the ground and was totally unresponsive. I asked if there was anything we could do, and the lass said it was OK and she was going to call for an ambulance. Meanwhile neighbours gathered also offering help and we listened obviously as she phoned 999. The old lady meanwhile was out cold, in the recovery position (clever carer) half on the footpath and half on the road. She was totally unresponsive. A gentleman we know came out of his house and I asked if he could bring her a blanket. She looked so frail. He came back with a warm crochet blanket. Meanwhile a young woman took a fleece blanket out of her car and the carer, who had been on nights, took her pyjamas out to make a pillow for her injured head.

It appears that she had a shoulder injury from a previous fall, had terminal cancer and epilepsy and had only just been discharged from hospital. She had hit her head on the kerbstone on the first fall and it was bleeding. The carer was on the phone for a long time to dispatch who appeared to be attempting to triage her over the phone. Eventually she said an ambulance would be on its way in SIX HOURS. We were all shocked. The gentleman and the young lady both offered to take her to hospital by car. The carer rang her boss and arranged to be picked up in about fifteen minutes. The old lady stirred periodically now but was only semi lucid. We left. All we could do at this point was pray, I was tempted to offer the carer a cup of tea but as we live a couple of streets away, I thought her boss would probably arrive before I had returned with it.

Seeing this happen was a shock to all. Noticing how caring people were to this frail old lady was good, but what on Earth is wrong with our NHS that they would leave an elderly, frail and terminal patient with a potentially serious head injury lying on the road for six hours? She might even have died on the street. Never mind the injury to her dignity, or the fact that she might have been hit by a car if left, the practical issue was that she had hit her head on the concrete and if that is not a medical emergency, I simply have no clue what is. I hope to God that I never collapse in the street but if I do, I would be glad of the kindness of strangers, especially in the absence of emergency medical care.

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