Hour wait for injured motorcyclist ambulance

An injured motorcyclist knocked off his bike near Luton and suffering multiple injuries waited over an hour for the arrival of an ambulance capable of taking him to hospital.

The accident on the A6 in Bedfordshire, was witnessed by a fellow motorcyclist and nurse who sat with the injured rider; firstly waiting 40 minutes for an ambulance car to arrive and then a further 28 minutes for an ambulance capable of transferring him to hospital to arrive.

The first call for an ambulance was made at 7.41pm with an ambulance car arriving at 8.20pm. It was 8.48pm before the unnamed rider was transferred to hospital for treatment for his injuries.

While the injured rider waited, lying in a pool of petrol leaking from his damaged motorcycle, and despite suspected spinal injuries, the Fire Service took the emergency decision to move him when the car involved in the accident caught fire. The fire was quickly put out.

The eyewitness, who doesn’t want to be named, explained they had seen a car and bike were in collision with each other and the rider was left severely concussed, complaining of back pain and had both shoulder and leg injuries. An ambulance was called but they had to leave before it arrived; leaving the rider in the hands of both Police and Fire personnel who arrived quickly.

A statement from East of England Ambulance Service says: “It was initially difficult to gain an accurate location from the 999 calls we received, as well as details about the casualty involved. This can make made the situation more challenging as it’s important that we receive as many details as possible from callers.

“But we recognise and have identified that recruiting more staff on ambulances will improve our responses and care to patients. This has been made an immediate priority by new Chief Executive Dr Anthony Marsh, and will be achieved through recruiting student paramedics, graduate paramedics and qualified paramedics and technicians.”

The ambulance service involved is the East of England Ambulance Service has been heavily criticised in recent months for response times and a report heavily criticised the service management for not listening to frontline staff.

A report in June into the service said it was “suffering with sub-standard operational performance” and recommended managers act “urgently” to improve response time targets and get new paramedics into the organisation “as soon as possible”.

Do you know the rider? Contact the MCN news desk on 01733-468000.