Woman, 95, lies on freezing pavement with broken hip for five hours as ambulance chiefs say she ‘is not a priority’

Woman, 95, lies on freezing pavement with broken hip for five hours as ambulance chiefs say she ‘is not a priority’

A 95-year-old woman told onlookers ‘I’m going to die here tonight’ after being left on the freezing pavement with a broken hip for five hours because ambulance chiefs told her she ‘was not a priority’.

Winifred Soanes was unable to move due to the pain she was in, after falling over in Christchurch High Street, Dorset, at 2.30pm while out her 92-year-old husband Andrew.

Despite multiple concerned members of the public making repeated 999 calls for an ambulance, explaining Winifred was elderly and vulnerable, they were told she ‘was not a priority’.
Passing Good Samaritans managed to prop her head up with shoe boxes from market stallholders and a pillow from a nearby pub.

Staff at Mountain Warehouse provided her with sleeping bags and charity shops gave blankets and hot water bottles to keep Winifred warm while she waited. Others provided coffee and food to help Andrew, who is an army veteran and diabetic and who refused to leave his wife’s side.

An ambulance eventually arrived at 7.45pm on Monday and took Winifred to hospital where she remains under supervision.