Frantic mum’s 999 nightmare

A mum says she has lost all faith in East Midlands Ambulance Service after waiting two hours for an ambulance for her premature baby who had developed serious breathing difficulties.

Georgina Day, 31, of Goldstraw Lane, Fernwood, dialled 999 at 2.30am after her son Zak’s breathing difficulties, which had started earlier in the night, became worse.

Zak was born 12 weeks premature at the QMC, Nottingham, and weighed just 2lb 6oz. He was in intensive care and needed support to breathe because his lungs hadn’t developed.

He is now three months old and weighs 6oz 2lb, but has since been diagnosed with bronchiolitis, which affects the airways.

Georgina, who also has a two-year-old daughter, said: “When I spoke to the ambulance service I explained that it was a premature baby and was told that I would be moved right to the top of the list.

“However, it was two hours before an ambulance arrived.

“Zak could have died in that time. I could have been resuscitating him for two hours. I’m absolutely disgusted.

“He’s been ill with flu-like symptoms. The hospital advised me that if at any point his breathing deteriorated to call for an ambulance.

“When the ambulance arrived I asked why it had taken so long and I was told it had been sent from Retford because Newark hadn’t got any staff.

“In Newark, which is at least a 45-minute journey from the nearest hospital with an A&E department, we must have an ambulance service that we can rely on.

“I have no faith in them any more.

“It was pretty scary — not far behind when I gave birth and wondered whether Zak would survive that.”

A spokesman for EMAS said: “We experienced a significant increase in 999 calls over the whole of the festive period and this placed us under great pressure.

“In these circumstances we have to prioritise calls and respond to those involving life-threatening conditions first.

“We received the 999 at 2.24am and categorised the call as non life-threatening.

“One of our triage nurses called back within 18 minutes and, after learning more about Zak’s condition, decided an ambulance should be requested to attend within 20 minutes.

“Due to the other life-threatening calls we were handling at the time, we were not able to send a vehicle within the specified time frame.

“We would like to apologise to Zak’s parents for the distress experienced by these circumstances.”