Collapsed woman helped by shoppers

An elderly woman who collapsed in Newark town centre on Saturday was carried to a car by members of the public after an ambulance failed to show up after an hour and a half.

The woman, believed to be in her 70s, collapsed in St Mark’s Place at around 12.15pm.

Staff from nearby Wilkinson and an off-duty nurse helped her.

Former Newark paramedic Mr David Moore, who saw the incident, said emergency services were called three times.

He said on the third call a member of the public was told there were no ambulances available in the area.

He said people comforted the woman and wrapped her in a duvet to keep her warm before carrying her to a nearby car that took her to Newark Hospital.

The chairman of the Say Yes to Newark Hospital Campaign, Mr Francis Towndrow, said staff at Wilkinson had told him that after 90 minutes the woman said she was tired and asked to be taken home in a taxi.

He said members of the public were concerned about her health and insisted on taking her to Newark Hospital.

A spokesman for East Midlands Ambulance Service said they were sorry for any discomfort the delay in their response caused the patient.

He said they received a 999 call at 12.39pm and it was determined the patient was not in an immediately life-threatening condition.

He said: “At that time, all vehicles in the area were dealing with life-threatening calls, which always take priority.

“Unfortunately, this resulted in our not being able to get to the patient as quickly as we wanted to. At 13.41pm we received a call to say the patient was making their own way to hospital and so we closed the request.

“EMAS is currently consulting on proposals to improve response times, the way we work as an organisation and to become the best ambulance service we can be.”