A BLACKWOOD golfer lay on the floor for more than two hours waiting for an ambulance after he collapsed while teaching a friend’s son to play golf.
David Jenkins, 69, from Gordon Road, Blackwood, was giving Rael Palmer-Baker, 12, some golf tips at Oakdale driving range on Sunday morning when he suddenly passed out.
Mr Baker, who has an irregular heart beat and takes Warfarin tablets to control his condition, came round a few moments later but collapsed again and staff at the golf course phoned for an ambulance.
After waiting an hour on the lounge floor of the golf club, a paramedic arrived in a Rapid Response Vehicle and put Mr Baker on a nebuliser to help him breathe easier while he called to see where the ambulance was.
The paramedic then told Mr Baker there were no free ambulances and it was another hour and a half before one arrived to take him to Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny - two-and-a-half hours after the emergency call was made.
Mr Baker said the time it took the ambulance to arrive was shocking.
He said: “If it was more serious then I probably would have died waiting for that ambulance.
“The paramedic didn’t have a clue where the ambulance was and didn’t know where they were going to get one from.
“Spending two-and-a-half hours on the floor waiting for one wasn’t very pleasant.”
After arriving at hospital staff carried out a number of tests to find the cause of Mr Baker’s collapse but he was discharged later the same day.
Mr Baker who has collapsed before in the past said doctors think it could be linked to his irregular heart beat and are continuing tests to determine the cause.
An Ambulance Trust spokesman said: "Due to issues of confidentiality we are not able to comment on individual cases.”
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