Mum thanks Asda staff for care after three-hour ambulance wait

A mum-to-be has told of how she waited three hours for paramedics after collapsing in a supermarket.
The ambulance outside Asda in Hartlepool after the call was made almost three hours earlier.The ambulance outside Asda in Hartlepool after the call was made almost three hours earlier.
The ambulance outside Asda in Hartlepool after the call was made almost three hours earlier.

Jennifer Fletcher is 27 weeks pregnant with her third child and fell ill at Asda in Hartlepool when she became dehydrated, drifting in and out of consciousness and unable to get up because of dizzy spells.

The 27-year-old from Peterlee, has spoken of her experience, which saw her wait almost three hours for paramedics, and thanked staff who came to her aid.

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They put up screens and kept her warm with pillows and blankets from the shelves, while partner Jason Grey, 23, comforted her.

The mum-of-two said her condition was compounded hip dysplasia, when a hip joint is the wrong shape or the hip socket is not in the correct position.

Jennifer said: “I can’t remember a great deal, I just remember feeling dizzy and going in and out, waking up and then back asleep, but I know I was cold because I was on the floor.

“In the article in the Mail the other day, it said they were keeping in touch, but we were having to phone the ambulance to see where they were.

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“The staff were calling 999 and they just kept saying one was on the way, but they were being sent to more serious incidents.

“I want to say thank you to the Asda staff, and to Jason, who never left my side.”

The North East Ambulance Service, which received Wednesday’s call at 12.35pm and attended at 3.20pm, has previously issued an apology, but says it attends those in need the most first.

Jennifer was recovering by the time she was taken to the University Hospital of North Tees, where she was given juice to restore her fluids.

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An NEAS spokeswoman said it kept in contact after the initial call and said of the incident: “Demand for our service in the Hartlepool area meant that patients with non-life threatening symptoms may have waited longer for an ambulance than we would have liked.

“We apologise for any distress that this has caused but we must always prioritise our resources to those patients most in need.”