Bad news, see earlier Blip 3 Jan

Today was a bit interesting. Very lazy start so when the phone call came through from the Hospice office we were both still in our dressing gowns. One of Sue's client had fallen in the shower and could not get up. His 90 + year old wife had phoned for an ambulance and was told it would be there in about 6 hours. It was explained the man was very frail very poorly and 90 plus years old, was wet and naked and lying on the cold slab of the shower floor, but to no avail. 
Sue said we would go immediately so quick change, no wash, teeth clean or hair brush and off we went. The office meanwhile phoned a council sponsored group who help people with falls. They also could not help.
When we got to the house we found this old guy in a foetal position with his back to the shower door. He had done a great job of jamming himself in. He had not injured  himself at all but was very stiff and very cold. Try as we might we could not move him enough to get through the very narrow shower doors. We needed better help and thought of the fire brigade, there is a station within 5 minutes of the old chaps house. We called them and they were willing to help but could not unless the ambulance service gave them the referral. So back to the ambulance people, explained the situation again and asked them to do the referral. Whilst they understood the request they could not make the referral without assessing the situation. When can this assessment be done? In about 6 hours.
The people at the other end of these phone lines must have a really stressful job, having to relay this type of information on to desperate people. They must suffer a lot from their inability to provide help as well as from irate callers. They have my sympathy.
We finally contacted another hospice worker who we knew had workmen in fitting a shower. We called her, she arrived really quickly with workman who could take the shower doors off, allowing us to finally maneuver the old guy out. In doing so we broke virtually all the personal safety rules laid down in our Manual Handling training. It took him 10 minutes to firstly get to his knees and then very tentatively to his feet. Finally we helped him into some cloths and into his chair for a cup of tea.
What a state this country is now in that a very poorly and frail old man has to wait 6 hours naked in a cold shower to get any help from the emergency services. From my own personal experience there was a six month wait for a scan to confirm I had a hernia (I knew before I went to the doctor) followed by a six month wait for the operation. I know there is no NHS dentist with vacancies within a 75 mile radius. These are annoying but not life threatening, the man in the shower could have died waiting.
I am sorry to go on at length but I got so angry and feel powerless to do anything. I could have posted this on Facebook but I did not want the abuse, I could have written to my MP but I did not want the platitudes, I could have written to the Department of Health but I did not want to be told how many billions they have or will be spending. So I wrote it on Blip, somewhere you can guarantee a sympathetic ear.
Thank you for reading this