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8:30am Saturday 11th July 2009 in
A TEENAGE cricketer spent nearly two hours waiting in agony on the pitch for an ambulance crew after dislocating his knee.
Chris James was batting for Colden Common when he suffered the injury after twisting his knee.
A 999 call was made for an ambulance to attend the VT Sports Ground in Portsmouth Road, Woolston, Southampton, at 6.15pm.
Another emergency call was made half an hour later when no one had turned up.
An ambulance crew finally arrived at 8pm – one hour and 45 minutes after the original 999 call was made.
Priority During that time the 17-year-old’s team-mates helped to put ice on his knee to ease the pain as he lay as still as he could on the pitch and the match against VT was abandoned.
He said: “I was pretty fed up. I understand there are calls that have a higher priority but it still seemed like a long time to wait.”
The Eastleigh College student of Brue Close, Chandler’s Ford, was taken to Southampton General Hospital where his right leg was put into plaster.
His father Stuart said: “I understand that some calls are more urgent than others.
“But I think that it is totally unacceptable as a taxpayer for the NHS to leave a teenager lying in agony for this amount of time.”
The father-of three said that he wanted to thank the crew which eventually arrived but said he felt let down by a system that left his son waiting for so long.
He said: “The ambulance crew were a little surprised at the length of time he had been there and advised that given the time without treatment that they were unlikely to be able to pop his knee back in place and therefore took him to A&E.”
A South Central Ambulance spokesman said: “The call was categorised as a category C emergency – non-serious and non-life- threatening – which means we have a locally recognised target of one hour to be at the patient’s side.
“It is regrettable that we were not able to reach the patient as quickly as we would like on this occasion due to external pressures and other higher priority emergencies and we apologise for the delay.”
Comments(33)
hulla baloo
says...
9:27am Sat 11 Jul 09
ewell wrote:Agreed.
Personally I think calling an ambulance for a dislocated knee is the height of stupidity. Was there no one first aid trained who could improvise a stretcher to get the poor chap into a car for transportation to hospital? All it takes is a bit of common sense!
The Grey Mystery
says...
9:36am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan
says...
9:41am Sat 11 Jul 09
hulla baloo wrote:I don't care if it is not life threatening I wasn't going to to be moved unless I had some pain relief because the slightest movement i felt pain. And i think if you people you would have called for one to so all I have to say BE QUIET and get on with your life.
ewell wrote:Agreed.
Personally I think calling an ambulance for a dislocated knee is the height of stupidity. Was there no one first aid trained who could improvise a stretcher to get the poor chap into a car for transportation to hospital? All it takes is a bit of common sense!
Hardly a life threatening injury.
Used the overstretched emergency services for serious incidents.
chris james saints fan
says...
9:44am Sat 11 Jul 09
The Grey Mystery wrote:The game was really important to finish.
why didnt they just stretcher him off and finish the game,lots of other important cases, for example, you cant expect ambulances to put LBW - leg before warsaw
chris james saints fan
says...
9:46am Sat 11 Jul 09
ewell
says...
9:51am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:Chris if you do not like people commenting on your story then probably best not to put it in the paper. I sympathise for your pain but don’t expect an ambulance to respond quickly for a non life threatening injury. Either get yourself to hospital or wait. It is not rocket science mush! I hope you are back on your feet and playing cricket soon!
hulla baloo wrote:I don't care if it is not life threatening I wasn't going to to be moved unless I had some pain relief because the slightest movement i felt pain. And i think if you people you would have called for one to so all I have to say BE QUIET and get on with your life.ewell wrote: Personally I think calling an ambulance for a dislocated knee is the height of stupidity. Was there no one first aid trained who could improvise a stretcher to get the poor chap into a car for transportation to hospital? All it takes is a bit of common sense!Agreed. Hardly a life threatening injury. Used the overstretched emergency services for serious incidents.
Red & White Never Blue
says...
10:05am Sat 11 Jul 09
Red & White Never Blue
says...
10:05am Sat 11 Jul 09
Bulley
says...
10:08am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan
says...
10:14am Sat 11 Jul 09
Red & White Never Blue wrote:shut up prat, i am better than you
"BE QUIET and get on with your life" says Chris.I think he would have done a lot better by not bleating to the echo who I also think are wrong to even publish such a pathetic story which only outcome will be to undermine the emergency services who do a wonderful job. I knoow some of the other lads who were playing in the same game and they don't think Chris is a very good cricketer anyway and a bit of an attention seeker. That might explain everything!! Now shush shush Chris and let that terrible injury heal
Ken Hutchinson
says...
10:17am Sat 11 Jul 09
Red & White Never Blue
says...
10:18am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:See what I mean. me me me me eh Chris
Red & White Never Blue wrote: "BE QUIET and get on with your life" says Chris.I think he would have done a lot better by not bleating to the echo who I also think are wrong to even publish such a pathetic story which only outcome will be to undermine the emergency services who do a wonderful job. I knoow some of the other lads who were playing in the same game and they don't think Chris is a very good cricketer anyway and a bit of an attention seeker. That might explain everything!! Now shush shush Chris and let that terrible injury healshut up prat, i am better than you
Ken Hutchinson
says...
10:23am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan
says...
10:29am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan
says...
10:55am Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:this is my last post i have come to retract this comment thank you. and i aint bothered what any of you say just to put the record Straight.
well i aint paying tax so i aint bothered and i under that it aint life threatening but still nearly 2 hours if rubbish because there's an ambulance holding about 5 minutes away and i care about my health and my family's and my mate's health but no one else's so
goard
says...
11:06am Sat 11 Jul 09
hulla baloo
says...
12:16pm Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:Ah bless,a little bit of pain from a dislocated knee.
hulla baloo wrote:I don't care if it is not life threatening I wasn't going to to be moved unless I had some pain relief because the slightest movement i felt pain. And i think if you people you would have called for one to so all I have to say BE QUIET and get on with your life.ewell wrote: Personally I think calling an ambulance for a dislocated knee is the height of stupidity. Was there no one first aid trained who could improvise a stretcher to get the poor chap into a car for transportation to hospital? All it takes is a bit of common sense!Agreed. Hardly a life threatening injury. Used the overstretched emergency services for serious incidents.
Sentient
says...
12:17pm Sat 11 Jul 09
hulla baloo
says...
12:19pm Sat 11 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:Better things to do.
i am no longer going to paste comments coz it a waste of time i have better thing to do.
Rishi Vadgama
says...
1:06pm Sat 11 Jul 09
mel,soton
says...
6:45pm Sat 11 Jul 09
The Grey Mystery
says...
7:29pm Sat 11 Jul 09
goard wrote:agree about the elderly lady she has paid into the system all her life and because of the immigration policy she has to wait behind people who have just entered the country,the nhs makes me sick
This may not appear to other bloggers that perhaps the boy did not have a serious injury, yes, it is very painful, but it points to one thing 'cutbacks' of all medical related incidents. What a pity that injuries have to be graded now - how about that elderly lady collapsed with injuries in town and reported by the Echo - she waited hours for an ambulance. I don't blame the ambulance men, I don't blame NHS, I blame whoever created this brave new World for the NHS. goard
MeMeMe15
says...
8:48pm Sat 11 Jul 09
Bulley
says...
10:03pm Sat 11 Jul 09
Ken Hutchinson wrote:Lost weight actually Ken Hutchinson - surprising that I dont know your alias - who are you - the only Ken Hutchinson I know, is a **** star from Oldham, so obviously not you with your little tiddler !!! - suppose you are sat there with a pot noodle, dreaming about what a good player I was, and continue to be - 16 goals last season being the proof **** !!!
Bulley has obviously had a knee injury before.Sounds like he probably made a meal of it when it happened.Or maybe too many meals put undue pressure on those particular joints eh Bunter?
Quite Frankly
says...
11:44pm Sat 11 Jul 09
Red & White Never Blue
says...
7:52am Sun 12 Jul 09
Bulley wrote:Yeah right... was it the subbuteo league Bloater. Lose weight in your flicking finger did you! Gobby t*at
Ken Hutchinson wrote: Bulley has obviously had a knee injury before.Sounds like he probably made a meal of it when it happened.Or maybe too many meals put undue pressure on those particular joints eh Bunter?Lost weight actually Ken Hutchinson - surprising that I dont know your alias - who are you - the only Ken Hutchinson I know, is a **** star from Oldham, so obviously not you with your little tiddler !!! - suppose you are sat there with a pot noodle, dreaming about what a good player I was, and continue to be - 16 goals last season being the proof **** !!!
The Grey Mystery
says...
9:28am Sun 12 Jul 09
chris james saints fan wrote:at least chris is using his own name to reply,and yes,i have changed my name by deed poll,good luck chis ,use these tossers remarks to inspire you,then in the future when you are really famous you can have the last laugh,
Red & White Never Blue wrote: "BE QUIET and get on with your life" says Chris.I think he would have done a lot better by not bleating to the echo who I also think are wrong to even publish such a pathetic story which only outcome will be to undermine the emergency services who do a wonderful job. I knoow some of the other lads who were playing in the same game and they don't think Chris is a very good cricketer anyway and a bit of an attention seeker. That might explain everything!! Now shush shush Chris and let that terrible injury healshut up prat, i am better than you
Saints Mike
says...
10:31am Sun 12 Jul 09
Sentient
says...
2:48pm Sun 12 Jul 09
The Grey Mystery wrote:Of course he's using his real name; the story is about him after all.
chris james saints fan wrote:at least chris is using his own name to reply,and yes,i have changed my name by deed poll,good luck chis ,use these tossers remarks to inspire you,then in the future when you are really famous you can have the last laugh,
Red & White Never Blue wrote: "BE QUIET and get on with your life" says Chris.I think he would have done a lot better by not bleating to the echo who I also think are wrong to even publish such a pathetic story which only outcome will be to undermine the emergency services who do a wonderful job. I knoow some of the other lads who were playing in the same game and they don't think Chris is a very good cricketer anyway and a bit of an attention seeker. That might explain everything!! Now shush shush Chris and let that terrible injury healshut up prat, i am better than you
now in the north
says...
8:26pm Sun 12 Jul 09
Reality-man
says...
9:21pm Sun 12 Jul 09
Bulley wrote:'ignore these tossers. They have probably never played any sport and are sat next to their mummy's being spoon-fed'???? Have you seen the picture?? I just stubbed my toe and am currently waiting for the daily echo photographer and an ambulance by the way.
Chris - ignore these tossers. They have probably never played any sport, and are sat next to their mummy's being spoon-fed breakfast as we speak. For those who have ever dislocated knees or any other knee injury, it isn't a question of rolling off the pitch and getting on with it - you can cause serious damage doing that. As to the point about not putting the story in the echo, if you don't want comments, I am sure Chris was the first to phone the echo and say "come and interview me " - come off it - as if he had a choice - knowing the echo, they would run a story of sorts in any case, regardless of the truth's. And I dont know him by the way, just get **** off with some of the cynics on this site. Good luck Chris - hope knee improving.
Ken Hutchinson
says...
12:03pm Mon 13 Jul 09
Bulley wrote:16 goals in the B division of the Southampton Veterans League!Ha ha ha ha ha....your goals tally nearly matches your chin tally Bulley.You were never any good before you started in the blue rinse league either!
Ken Hutchinson wrote: Bulley has obviously had a knee injury before.Sounds like he probably made a meal of it when it happened.Or maybe too many meals put undue pressure on those particular joints eh Bunter?Lost weight actually Ken Hutchinson - surprising that I dont know your alias - who are you - the only Ken Hutchinson I know, is a **** star from Oldham, so obviously not you with your little tiddler !!! - suppose you are sat there with a pot noodle, dreaming about what a good player I was, and continue to be - 16 goals last season being the proof **** !!!
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ewell says...
9:21am Sat 11 Jul 09