November 22, 2018 5.29 pm This story is over 64 months old

“This is what we’re fighting for”: Man falls ill in front of hospital protestors

Campaigners are fighting to save the hospital

Stock image Photo: Richard Speed

A man fell ill in front of protestors at Louth Hospital on Wednesday evening during a bi-weekly vigil to help save Louth and Skegness hospitals.

The man was treated by paramedics in an ambulance before being taken to another hospital in the county according to member of the Facebook group ‘Fighting 4 Louth Hospital’ Richard Speed.

Richard saw things unfold and believes it sums up ‘just what we are fighting for’ and highlighted the “need of the return of our local services at Louth”.

The group were holding their bi-weekly vigil a car came towards the hospital and stopped directly in front of them at around 8.40pm on Wednesday, November 21.

‘On his knees being sick’

Richard said: “The driver got out… and after maybe half a minute or so sounds of vomiting were coming from behind the vehicle. On walking round the car I found the driver on his knees being sick.

“He was unresponsive so we called an ambulance which amazingly arrived two minutes later.

“Now whether this was a response to our call or if fortunately, they were just passing, is a matter for conjecture, but a welcome sight nonetheless.

“The paramedics got him to his feet and into the back of the ambulance and pulled to the side of the road, next to the hospital entrance, eventually to set off for either Grimsby or Lincoln.”

He added: “The point of this story is, a man taken ill directly outside Louth Hospital has to be treated by paramedics in an ambulance at the gates of the hospital, stabilised and then taken to another hospital, 16 miles away, when, if we had an A&E at Louth, he could have been taken there to be treated and the paramedics could have gone on to their next call.”

Richard told Lincolnshire Reporter he doesn’t know which hospital the man was taken to, but that Fight 4 Louth hope he is okay.

A spokesperson for EMAS said: “We received a call at 8:33pm to an incident outside Louth County Hospital. The caller reported a patient who had fallen unconscious.

“We allocated an ambulance and 8:34pm and it arrived on scene 8:35pm One patient was taken to Diana Princess of Wales Hospital.”

Service Delivery Manager at EMAS Neil Scott added: “This patient was reported to our 999-call taker as experiencing a medical emergency and therefore needed to be transported to the nearest accident and emergency following on scene assessment.

“County Hospital Louth is an urgent care centre and only accepts non-emergency and minor injury patients, due to the medical emergency being experienced the patient was conveyed to the most appropriate place of care for their condition.”

As previously reported, campaigners fighting to protect services at Louth Hospital welcomed a motion calling on health bosses to maintain the quality of services.