Disabled Birmingham man waits six hours for ambulance

A disabled man waited six hours for an ambulance after a fall at his home.

David Steele, 62, said he had had more than 120 falls after 2009 neck surgery left him with life-changing injuries.

He wears a pendant alarm which can be used to contact emergency services, but after a December fall at about 18:30 GMT he waited until almost 01:00 GMT the next day for assistance.

West Midlands Ambulance Service apologised, adding "the whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure".

The Local Democracy Reporting service said Mr Steele has nerve damage which causes a loss of feeling in his ankles and leads him to fall.

On 10 December, he called for help after falling at his home in Holloway Head, Birmingham, but paramedics did not arrive until 00:48 on 11 December.

"I am so terrified of falling because I don't know when I am going to fall, and I don't know when I am going to get help," Mr Steele said.

"Because of being left so long, I got in my head that nobody cared and nobody was coming and started having panic attacks."

"We are working with all local partners across the health and care system to reduce delays so crews can respond to the next incident as quickly as possible," West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

"We would like to apologise to Mr Steele for the time it took to reach him. Our staff are working tirelessly to respond to patients as soon as we can."

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