Girl with back injury waits 16 hours for ambulance in Colchester

A 12-year-old girl with a suspected spinal injury had to wait 16 hours for an ambulance in "unbearable pain".

Maisie Cookson's mother called 999 when her daughter fell down the stairs at home in Colchester on New Year's Eve.

She was told not to move her until paramedics arrived, which was not until 10:30 GMT the next morning, and it was later diagnosed as a tissue injury.

The East of England Ambulance Service said it was "experiencing very high demand" at the time.

In a series of Twitter posts early on New Year's Day, Chelsey Cookson said her daughter was in "unbearable pain".

She said an ambulance worker told her staff were under pressure because so many colleagues were in isolation due to the Covid pandemic.

Mrs Cookson said the NHS was struggling to cope and staff were "being run ragged".

"I know it was their busiest night of the year but you can't help feel a sense of anger," she said.

"I work in social care, so I'm used to seeing people seeing delays when calling for ambulances and I completely understand the staff truly care and do everything they can but the NHS is struggling to cope."

Maisie was taken to Colchester Hospital and later discharged with painkillers to recover at home.

The East of England Ambulance Service has apologised for "the distress caused by the long wait" and said it would encourage the family to contact its patient experience team to discuss the case.

"At the time we received the call we were experiencing a very high demand on our services and had to triage calls in terms of clinical need with life-threatening emergencies prioritised," a spokesman said.

"As is our standard practice, a clinician closely monitors the condition of our patients during a wait for an ambulance, and in this case made a number of welfare calls with the family so that the call could be upgraded if needed."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We are supporting the NHS to meet the significant pressures it is facing to ensure everyone can access the treatment they need when they need it.

"NHS England and Improvement has given ambulance trusts an extra £55m to boost staff numbers in control rooms and on the frontline.

"This is on top of our record investment this year, including £5.4bn over the second half of this year to support the response to COVID-19, as well as £36bn for health and care over the next three years."

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