90 Year Old Woman Left for Two Hours After Pothole Fall

90-year-old forced to wait 2 hours for ambulance after pothole fall

 

Left 'shivering': 90-year-old Eva Mason, from Winchester Avenue, Grimsby, had to wait two hours for an ambulance after falling in Grimsby town centre. Pictured with her is daughter Pam Hardy at home.

A "SHIVERING" 90-year-old woman was forced to wait two hours for an ambulance after tripping over a pothole headfirst into the road.

Eva Mason, of Winchester Avenue, Grimsby, suffered bad bruising to her face but was fortunate to avoid broken bones following the incident in Grimsby town centre.

Eva and her friend were walking along South St Mary's Gate, near the Co Op bank, but were forced to cross the road due to roadworks.

Just before they reached the other side, Eva's walking frame got caught in a pothole next to a kerb, causing her to fall headfirst onto the road. A staff member from Zimmini Hair Salon, who saw what happened, immediately called for an ambulance, and was told it would be about a 45-minute wait.

After an hour, an ambulance had still not arrived – despite the call handler being told Eva was 90 years old.

The hair salon worker called them again to check they were still coming and was told it would take at least another hour, as Eva's incident was not thought to be an "emergency".

Eventually an ambulance arrived after two hours.

"I was shaking like a leaf," Eva said.

"When all of my family got there they all had to take their coats and jackets off to keep me warm.

"I was shivering."

Eva revealed she is now nervous to return to that part of town, but refuses to let the fall, which happened on Tuesday, July 12, stop her from getting out and about.

Her daughter Pam Hardy said: "Is this the way to treat an elderly lady?

"It really needs to be sorted out, otherwise the next person to trip and fall might not be quite as lucky."

After the fall, Eva was initially unable to see out of her eye and suffered severe bruising underneath her eye and chin.

Fortunately, an X-ray showed nothing had been broken.

While she was waiting for the ambulance, Eva was said to be shaking with shock.

 

 

 

She was ordered not to move which is why paramedics did not allow family to take her to the hospital by themselves.

"The doctor said she must be made out of steel," Pam said.

"She's very lucky not to have broken anything.

"The young girl at the hairdressers was lovely, she was marvellous.

"She got her a chair to sit on and wouldn't leave her side.

"In fact, a few people stopped to help, which was nice."

A spokesperson for East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "As with all UK ambulance services, we are experiencing a significant and sustained increase in demand and are responding to thousands more emergencies than ever before.

"I can confirm the call was received at a time when we were under severe pressure from other 999 calls and we are very sorry we weren't able to respond much quicker than we did.

"We would be happy to carry out a detailed investigation into the circumstances and provide the lady with a detailed account of our findings should she wish us to do so."

A spokesperson for North East Lincolnshire Council – responsible for the upkeep of the roads and the roadworks – added: "We are sorry to hear about the injuries Eva Mason sustained in Grimsby town centre."

 

 

CREDIT Grimsby Telegraph  | Matt Scrafton

 

 

Councils Will Need to Embrace Technology to Make Savings.

How councils can save money in customer engagement

Technologies can be integrated to increase self-service and provide internal efficiencies in responding to the financial squeeze.

Life has been tough for the leaders of local authorities, and it is getting tougher. The Government’s Spending Review has left local government facing a £4.1 billion funding cut over the next five years, on top of the existing squeeze on finances, and no money has been provided to support its digital initiatives.

But a transformation based on digital technology is essential if it is to meet the increasing demands on its services while coping with the financial pressures. This does not necessarily require an investment in bespoke systems; solutions soon available, such as the Street Repairs (AMS) asset management system which can play a key role in a council’s transformation.

Customer service is one of the crucial elements in a programme. There is scope for immense savings in harnessing council websites to automate the processes, making it easier for people to self-serve online, and sharply reducing the number of contacts between the public and council.

Expectation

It may be alien to the traditional culture of local government, but people have come to expect it in dealing with the private sector – they now book everything from theatre tickets to holidays without speaking to anybody from the seller – and the time is ripe for councils to follow the trend.

This can be achieved by bringing together the CRM and CMS features to embed publishing and self-service within a single platform. IT consultancy Pythagoras has been working with local authorities to develop solutions based on Microsoft technologies, and identified the functions that provide a new dimension to customer engagement:

• An efficient search function that can take the customer straight to the process they want to carry out, while also providing the organisation with a view of the most searched topics and recent search trends.
• A rich knowledge base, which can provide answers to a multitude of questions to reduce the need for customers to talk to a service representative.
• An online chat facility that provides the option for contact, but enables the representative to deal with a number of customers simultaneously.
• A flexible authentication feature, which makes it possible for customers to register and sign in.
• A business process flow that registers a service request then guides staff through the process, providing alerts, showing fields for the different stages, and supplying or requesting the required data.
• Design that makes the package mobile-friendly, so it works smoothly through tablets and smartphones, reflecting the increasing preference of the public for the devices.

Street Repairs includes all of these functions and more.

There is also a growing range of business apps that provide efficiency gains at specific stages of a work process. For example, the Street Repairs app makes it possible to photograph community defects and immediately send them to the local authority in great detail. All of this can lay the ground for a major shift to self-service and big efficiency savings for a local authority.

Reduce interactions

Street Repairs significantly reduces the number of interactions between employees and the public, a move that can provide big savings but will only succeed if the technology makes everything easier for the customer. 

This will be the key feature for any council aiming to transform its customer engagement – ensuring that the new online process is easier for the user than the old one. Get this right, and it is on the route to savings on a scale that will make a difference in saving services.

It is possible to integrate technologies to make self-service the norm in customer contact, and to provide a string of efficiencies in their internal processes. It will be a complex and demanding task, but it is one that all local authorities will have to take on to deliver essential services under a tough financial regime.

Hard to believe, we now have POTHOLES on our railways!

Credit: Network Rail

Credit: Network Rail

London Bridge was almost deserted this morning

London Bridge was almost deserted this morning

Motorway Hard Shoulder Usage During Busy Times. Smart Or Not So Smart

In an attempt to reduce congestion on the UKs motorway network Highways England has implemented something called “Smart Motorways” whereby you are allowed to drive at certain times on the hard shoulder and use it just like any other motorway lane.

We ask you the road user what you think of this idea.

The following information is directly from the Gov.UK website and makes for some very interesting reading.

A smart motorway uses technology to actively manage the flow of traffic. The technology is controlled from a regional traffic control centre. The control centres monitor traffic carefully and can activate and change signs and speed limits. This helps keep the traffic flowing freely.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-drive-on-a-smart-motorway 

Smart motorways increase the capacity of the road, without the expense and hassle of widening the road, by either temporarily or permanently opening the hard shoulder to traffic.

Highways England is responsible for smart motorways in England.

Quick tips

On a smart motorway:

• never drive in a lane closed by a red “X”
• keep to the speed limit shown on the gantries
• a solid white line indicates the hard shoulder - don’t drive in it unless directed.
• a broken white line indicates a normal running lane
• if your vehicle experiences difficulties, eg warning light, exit the smart motorway immediately if possible
• use the refuge areas for emergencies if there’s no hard shoulder
• put your hazard lights on if you break down

Hard shoulder use

On smart motorways you will see refuge areas spaced regularly alongside the motorway. You should use these in emergencies.

This is because on some smart motorways the hard shoulder can be opened up for traffic to use at busy times. If it is open for use you will see a speed limit displayed over it.

If there is no sign, or a red X is displayed, then normal hard shoulder rules apply. In other words, do not use it except in emergency.

A hard shoulder is always clearly identified with a solid white unbroken line.

On other types of smart motorway, the hard shoulder has been permanently converted into an extra lane. Where this is the case the lane looks like any other lane, ie it is marked with a broken white line.

£2 Billion Upgrade To Roads. Which Are Now Falling Apart After Just A Few Months?

Roads across Sheffield are being repaired – just months after being resurfaced as part of a city-wide £2 billion upgrade.

Freedom of Information figures reveal 16 roads have had to be repaired after being resurfaced as part of the Streets Ahead project. 

Roads which have required repairs after Amey have relaid them include a 300 metre stretch of Walkley Road, Walkley, a ‘structural failure’ on Abbeydale Road South, 200 metres of Prince of Wales Road and Blackstock Road and Jenkin Road.

And potholes are appearing on other recently resurfaced roads, including Collegiate Crescent.

Since work began in 2012, Amey has resurfaced almost exactly half of the city’s roads, with 2,143 roads left to be done.

Hallam MP Mr Clegg said: “It is completely unacceptable that some of Sheffield’s roads are having to be fixed so soon after being repaired as part of the Streets Ahead project.” But Sheffield Council said the 16 roads make up less than a mile of city streets and insists the ‘very positive’ contract will be finished on time.

The mammoth task of resurfacing every road in Sheffield will be completed on time despite repairs being carried out to some roads already resurfaced, the city council stressed today.

Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg said: “It is completely unacceptable that some of Sheffield’s roads are having to be fixed so soon after being repaired as part of the Streets Ahead project.In that time, 16 roads have required repairs including an 150 metre stretch of Wortley Road in High Green, 100 metres of Thompson Hill, also in High Green, 300 metres of Walkley Road, Walkley, and three patches on Manor Lane, Manor.

“Although the work is being carried out by Amey, it’s up to the Labour Council to make sure the work is being carried out up to standard and on time.

The roads fixed since being resurfaced represent 0.7 per cent of the roads resurfaced so far.The £2bn project was bankrolled with £1.2bn of funding from central Government, with the remaining £800m being put in by Sheffield Council.

Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts said: “The roads progress is actually going very well. I have not had any complaints from residents about roads resurfacing. None at all.

“I think people are very pleased that the roads are getting done. People can see it’s being done in their area, or going to be done soon.

“However it is not always possible to determine where there are localised areas where the road foundation is soft. This is something that is expected considering the amount of work.“This does not indicate the resurfacing is not good enough and we are reassured if any of these issues are found they will be rectified. Prior to the resurfacing of any road, investigations are carried out to determine what treatments are required.

“We are confident the works will be completed as scheduled and guaranteed to be on budget.”

Coun Bryan Lodge, cabinet member for the environment, said: “The Streets Ahead contract is very positive. It is providing much needed investment in our roads, pavements and streetlights that residents have wanted for many years.

“Since August 2012 more than 450 miles of road have been resurfaced. Yes, Amey do need to go back and resurface some roads but this represents less than a mile.

“This is not unusual considering the amount of work that is being carried out. We know that the work causes some disruption to residents and businesses but the feedback we receive shows that a little disruption is worth it.

“At the end of 2017 we will have one of the best highway networks in the country.”

ROADS NEEDING A FIX SINCE RESURFACING - THE FULL LIST

Knowle Lane, bottom section – 100m length

Wortley Road – 150m

Thompson Hill – 100m

CarterKnowle lane – 100m

Walkley Road – 300m

High Storrs Road – less than 50m

Church Street

Hagg Stones Road – 2 small patches

Jenkin Road – 2 patches

Ben Lane – small patch

Manor Lane – 3 patches less than 50m

Upper Albert Road, outside No. 47 – small patch

Blackstock Road – small patch

Abbeydale Road South – small structural failure

Loxley Road – 2 small patches

Prince of Wales Rd – 200m

Source, The Star.