TELFORD, England — Firefighters in England transported a 10-year-old boy to the hospital in their fire truck after no ambulances were available to respond.
The Guardian reported the boy had suffered a head injury in an accident on Wednesday.
“At the time, four emergency ambulances had been delayed by over an hour each to hand over their patients at the two Shropshire hospitals,” a spokesman for the West Midlands ambulance service said. “Two ambulances were dispatched to the accident but were stood down when the fire service informed us that they were transporting the patient.”
According to the spokesman, the ambulance service has voiced concern repeatedly over hospital delays tying up paramedics.
“Whilst on this occasion no harm appears to have come to the patient, it is a completely unacceptable situation that we were unable to respond to an incident such as this,” he said.
Debbie Kadum, the chief operating officer at the hospital, said the hopital was overwhelmed with high patient volume over the Easter holiday.