Ambulance service defends emergency response to Chesterfield collision

A woman came off her moped on the A61 southbound carriageway between the Tesco roundabout and Horns Bridge roundabout on Tuesday (July 11) just after 6pm.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) attended the scene but some people claim paramedics did not arrive for 30 minutes. However, the ambulance service said it arrived in under 25 minutes after its call operators had already established it was not a serious incident.

The woman herself has also said she was not injured.

Commenting on the Derbyshire Times Facebook page, Emma Hill, wrote: “I was the car behind this lady who come off her bike. The emergency services should hold their head in shame for this!!!! Disgusting. More than a hand full of people phoned them and they took 30 minutes to arrive!

“999 was called by numerous people at 6.05pm and they showed up at 6.40pm. Bearing in mind the location this was at and at least two police vehicles drove past on the opposite side of the carriageway!! Just doesn’t make sense that this was not made a priority.”

And Matthew Bunting posted: “Shocking response times. 30 mins. The 999 control room didn’t know where ‘A61 Chesterfield southbound between the Chesterfield Hotel and Hornsbridge Island’ is.”

The woman involved in the accident, Nikkie Vickers, said she was not injured but had been urged not to move by other motorists.

She wrote on the Derbyshire Times Facebook page: “Well the ambulance guys didn’t seem to understand why an ambulance had been called. I wasn’t in any pain so I should have just got up but all the people around me kept saying just to be on the safe side I should lay still, so I did for around 25-ish minutes I think until the ambulance arrived.”

She added: “I’m sore and tired but I’m ok.”

EMAS said it responded to the incident on the A61 in Chesterfield after a patient had been involved in a collision.

Based on the information the service received about the patient’s injuries, deemed not to be serious or life threatening, paramedics aimed to get to get there within 30 minutes and arrived in 24 minutes. The patient was discharged at the scene as she had no injuries.

Dr Bob Winter, medical director at EMAS, said: “Patients who are in cardiac arrest, suffering a stroke or with chest pain need an ambulance and are always prioritised. We will aim to reach those patients within eight minutes because their injury or illness is immediately life threatening.

“We follow national set guidelines for response times. NHS England has today announced a new set of performance standards for English ambulance services which we will start from July 19.”

A spokesman for Derbyshire Constabulary said: “At the time, we were informed that EMAS were dealing with it and the resources we had in the area were committed on other calls or jobs, including the transport of a prisoner.

“EMAS called us at 6.11pm and shortly after that told us one of their first responders was en route. The moped rider was uninjured and was discharged by EMAS at the scene, while the moped was recovered later on after being moved off the carriageway.”