A FATHER who suffered a massive stroke had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance after a catalogue of errors by Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
Kenny Bailey, 48, suffered the stroke in Greggs at Stairfoot - but although a rapid response vehicle arrived within 13 minutes, an ambulance, which was needed to take him to Barnsley Hospital, did not arrive for another 51 minutes.
Kenny has spent five weeks in hospital, is paralysed on his left side, suffers short term memory problems. He had emergency surgery to remove swelling from his brain, amid fears he wouldn't survive.
An investigation report from the ambulance service looking into why it took so long for the ambulance to arrive states the operator who took the 999 call didn't send an ambulance and then didn't divert one from another incident where it wasn't needed, to help Kenny.
It goes on to say the dispatcher 'made an error in judgement and didn't follow notes previously made about the job', and staff were under pressure because of an increase in demand.
** The full story - including an interview with the family - is in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated October 17. **
