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"When you hear the crack you know it's the worst possible outcome..."

Football manager Andy was told there wouldn't be an ambulance for his player for 3 hours.

NI Ambulance Service Statement: The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service received a call at 15:02 on Saturday 31 March 2018 to report a male with a possible broken leg at football pitches in Strathfoyle.

From the information provided, the call was determined to be Category C, neither serious nor life-threatening, and suitable for referral to the Clinical Support Desk (CSD) Paramedic within the Emergency Control Room.

The CSD Paramedic contacted the caller at 15:19 and reviewed the patient鈥檚 condition. They confirmed that the patient was still conscious and breathing, and that they weren鈥檛 deteriorating before asking the caller to help carry out checks to determine the severity of the condition.

The caller was advised that the closest available ambulance would be coming from Limavady and might take some time to arrive. The CSD Paramedic asked the caller to attempt transferring the patient to a car with the help of others. The paramedic also advised administration of pain relief, if available at scene, to ease the patient鈥檚 discomfort. During this time a Rapid Response Paramedic was dispatched to the scene to administer stronger pain relief.

At 15:27 NIAS received a call stating that the patient had been successfully transferred into a vehicle and an ambulance was no longer required as they would transport him to hospital.

Release date:

Duration:

2 minutes