A BOLTON MP has slammed a “dismissive and uncaring” response from the North West Ambulance Service on the issue of emergency patients being left on hold after calling 999.

David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East, contacted the ambulance service after hearing from Bradshaw resident Eddie Corley.

As reported in The Bolton News, Mr Corley called 999 last month after his wife Jean fell down the stairs — only to hear a recorded message stating that the service was too busy.

He eventually had to wake a neighbour to take his wife — who had suffered a head injury — to hospital.

After hearing the account, Mr Crausby wrote to NWAS to demand an explanation — but has described the response as “dismissive and uncaring.”

In a written response, the interim chief executive for the North West Ambulance Service, Derek Cartwright, argued that “Mr Corley’s call would have been answered by an NWAS call taker as soon as one became available” but the MP believes the response offered no indication as to why enough staff were not available to respond to life-threatening calls or how long a delay people were expected to endure.

He said: “It is simply wrong to be so dismissive of this complaint by saying they would have answered eventually.

“How long should people expect to sit there bleeding while they wait for someone to pick up the phone? These are life and death situations and I’m shocked to have received such an uncaring response.

He added: “I have been told that there was an increase in life-threatening calls, but this wasn’t an unexpected overnight increase in calls — it’s been part of a steady increase over the last 12 months. Surely staffing levels should reflect this and there should be enough people to answer the phone?”

In his letter, Mr Cartwright pointed out that the number of calls NWAS received on the day of Mrs Corley’s accident was “significantly increased” compared with the same date last year, with the number of life-threatening calls up by 57 per cent.