August 23, 2022 7.00 pm This story is over 23 months old

Girl with heart condition saved by off-duty nurse and two policemen

A makeshift bed was made in the back of the police van

A twelve-year-old girl from Surfleet, near Spalding, who collapsed on the way to school, was saved by an off-duty nurse who pulled over to help her, alongside two policemen.

Rachell Ingall, Trinity’s mum, rang emergency services but was told that Trinity would have to wait two hours for an ambulance and would need to get to the closest defibrillator.

Two policemen then arrived on-scene with a defibrillator and made a makeshift bed in the back of their police van to safely transport Trinity to hospital.

Trinity, who didn’t know she had the heart condition that made her collapse, recounted what happened to BBC Look North: “My vision was blurred.

“It went dark, then it went light again. I didn’t feel right, I was scared. I remember just rocking and rolling in the police van because there was no ambulance available.”

East Midlands Ambulances apologised for the delay and said they are working with their crews on-scene to provide alternatives to patients attending emergency departments. | Screenshot: BBC Look North/BBC News Hub

Rachel Ingall said: “It’s really scary – I mean knowing that your daughter is needing help but you can’t get that help as fast what you would feel is needed.”

East Midlands ambulance service says it has introduced new ways of assessing and treating patients to try to reduce delays.

Sue Cousland, from East Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “We are really sorry this has happened to this little girl and her family. It is not the service we would normally wish to provide.

“We’re finding that we have a bit of symptom around delays in the system that causes us, on occasion, to be waiting outside hospital, but we are working with our crews on scene to provide alternatives to patients attending emergency departments.”

Trinity’s mum Rachel says she doesn’t blame the ambulance service and understands other pressures in the health service led to the delay, but wants to thank everyone who stopped to help.