THE WIFE of a pensioner with dementia has criticised the ambulance service after he was forced to spend two hours lying on a pavement in sub-zero conditions waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

A 70-year-old man tripped on Park Street, Barmouth and cut his head open causing blood to “gush” all over the pavement.

The incident occurred at approximately 7pm on 26 February and an ambulance was called immediately. In freezing conditions - dropping as low as -3 degrees - those who assisted him were informed by ambulance control not to move the patient and that an ambulance was en route.

After waiting for over two hours - whilst two ambulances reportedly drove past the casualty - the cold and shaken 70-year-old grew visibly distressed and insisted on going home.

It was a further hour before an ambulance arrived at all, three hours after the initial call was made.

The man’s wife, who asked not to be named said: “Even a dog wouldn’t be left in the street for two hours in freezing temperatures, but my husband was made to lie in the street with blood pouring from his head for over two hours. Thank you to everyone who stopped and helped and stayed outside with him on one of the coldest nights of the year.”

Lisa Shaw, who works at The Royal pub near where the incident took place, witnessed the incident and was outraged at what she saw.

“On one of the coldest nights of the year with temperatures dropping to sub-zero the man was forced to lay on the pavement outside for over two hours putting him at risk of hypothermia,” she told the Cambrian News.

“Repeated calls to ambulance control were made, but still they refused to give a time frame for the ambulance to arrive.

“After two hours of lying outside on the pavement, while the man grew increasingly distressed, the decision was made to move him inside against ambulance control instructions because of the freezing temperatures. An ambulance finally arrived three hours after the initial call.”

The casualty, who does not recall the incident due to his mental condition, then refused medical attention after he was back in his own home, according to Lisa.

“The patient refused to wait on the pavement for an ambulance after the two-hour mark so he was escorted home and went to bed,” she added.

“From what I understand when the paramedics finally showed up, he refused to go to the hospital.

“He has not sought medical attention since so the outcome is unknown. As he is in the early stages of dementia with severely impaired short-term memory, he has no recollection of the incident.

“The community is aggrieved because on a freezing cold night ambulance control instructed the first aiders to keep him lying on a freezing pavement and not move him."

Dave Hughes, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s locality manager for Anglesey and Gwynedd, said: “We had a call shortly after 7pm on Monday, 26 February, and the call was assessed as serious but not immediately life-threatening.

“We never intentionally leave patients waiting, but well-documented system-wide pressures sometimes mean that we do not always immediately have an ambulance to dispatch to a call.

“We dispatched the next suitable resource as soon as it became available, but on our arrival to the property, the patient declined treatment and declined to travel to hospital.”