West Midlands Ambulance Service has apologised for the length of time to reach the patient in Leek
Postman Mark Brough has revealed how he came to the aid of a woman he found lying beside a hedge at her home. The incident on Leek's Ashbourne Road represents the second time Mark has come to the rescue in as many years.
On the most recent occasion - on June 23 - Mark noticed a woman lying beside a hedge on her property. He said: “I was delivering a letter and as I was walking down the path I noticed a lady slumped beside the hedge.
“I did not dare to move her in case she had broken something. I tried to talk to her and asked if she was in pain and she touched her leg.
“I then went around to the next door neighbour for assistance who then rang for the emergency service. However, it took a long time for an ambulance to arrive.
“I did what I could for the lady and the neighbour stayed with her. She could have been there a long time if I had not been delivering. I left my telephone number to let me know how she was, but I have not heard anything. I can’t believe the things that seem to keep happening to me on my rounds.”
Meanwhile West Midlands Ambulance Service has apologised for the delay in responding to the incident. A spokesman said the service received the first of five calls about the case at 2.58pm – it was triaged as a Category 2 call. An ambulance arrived at 4.30pm.
A spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to the patient for the delayed response. The whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure and unfortunately, long hospital handover delays mean some patients are waiting far longer for an ambulance to come to them than we would want.
“Our staff and volunteers are working tirelessly to respond as soon as we can and we continue to work with local partners to find ways to reduce the delays so that our crews can respond more quickly. The patient was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital.”
This is not the first time Mark’s swift action has helped someone. In May 2020, while delivering letters in Rennie Crescent off Basford Bridge Lane in Cheddleton, he heard a smoke alarm going off and could smell burning as he approached the premises.
He immediately went to a neighbour’s house and got a key to the property, and after entering and checking there was no-one inside, he found the cause of the fire, a tea towel on a hob, and extinguished it.
He was later praised by the property owners for his quick action. Earlier this year, and StokeonTrentLive reported how Mark was being terrorised by a feisty pheasant while on his rounds – with the feathered menace chasing him and trying to nip his legs.
One video showed the pheasant relentlessly hounding Mark on his Cheddleton round. It showed Mark swinging his bag in a desperate bid to scare off the winged terror, but undeterred, the pheasant doggedly pursued him along Vale View. Speaking at the time Mark said: “The street is only a little street, but the bird is causing mayhem. I’ve had geese come after me before, but never a pheasant."