A YOUNG Newton Abbot man underwent emergency surgery in Torbay Hospital after waiting nearly an hour for an ambulance which never turned up.

Sean Phillips, 22, was rolling around in ‘absolute agony’ after a sudden attack of excruciating abdominal pains during a fishing trip on the River Teign with his family on Tuesday evening.

His father, Jez Pilkington, who runs Pilkington Marine in Newton Abbot, was appalled that the emergency service let his son down so badly.

At the height of his ordeal he was doubling up in pain, bleeding from the nose and vomiting.

In desperation the fishing party rang for a taxi in Teignmouth which sped ailing Sean off to Torbay Hospital where he was operated on almost immediately.

‘He was straight through casualty and on to the operating table very quickly. It was that urgent. It’s a pity the ambulance service was not so prompt after our first call at about 7.50pm,’ complained Jez.

He added: ‘I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life. We were told the ambulance would be 11 minutes. We rang them three times and were told the ambulance was on its way. They said it was very busy.

‘We waited at the appointed picking-up spot at Shaldon Bridge. The ambulance never arrived. We rang again and then decided the best thing to do was to get a taxi.

‘That arrived at 8.50pm, although we had still hoped the ambulance would arrive before it – but it didn’t.’

Sean, who lives in Powderham Road and works as a paint sprayer in Exeter, was duly released from Torbay Hospital on Wednesday after undergoing surgery which relieved him of the worst effects of his painful ailment.

He said on his arrival back home that he was ‘totally impressed’ with the efficient hospital treatment he received. He was less kind about the ambulance service.

He said: ‘I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. It’s not good at all for the ambulance service to say they are on their way when they don’t turn up.

‘What if I’d had no money for a taxi? I shall be writing to the ambulance service to complain about what happened. It was not good enough.’

He said he still remained in pain, and had to sign off work for two weeks to recover.

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service Trust said: ‘We received a call at 7.52pm reporting that a male on a boat was experiencing abdominal and back pain. We received another call approximately 45-minutes later confirming that the patient was making his own way to hospital. During this time all our resources were responding to higher priority emergencies. 

‘The Trust is now handling an extra 470 incidents each day compared with five years ago and demand for our services continues to rise. 

‘We are pleased to learn that the patient has recovered from his injury and would encourage him to contact the Trust’s patient experience team if he would like to discuss the matter further.’