A MOTHER from Bordon has spoken of her shock at having to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance after her three-year-old son was hit by a car. Even when help arrived, the pair faced another excruciating wait as the ambulance took 35 minutes to weave through traffic on its way to the accident and emergency department at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey. Miraculously, Luke Wheatland suffered no broken bones or internal injuries during the accident on Monday, February 19, and is now a happy child again. But his mother, Karen Wheatland, has demanded answers. A spokeswoman for the Hampshire Ambulance Service apologised to the family, explaining the ambulance, which had been on its way, was redirected when a more serious call was received from Bordon minutes after Luke was knocked down. But Mrs Wheatland, who still remembers how helpless she felt kneeling next to her son in the road, has written to the service, asking what can be done to prevent others going through the same traumatic experience. She also called for an A&E department to be built in Bordon to serve the expected influx of residents - a project Hampshire Primary Care Trust has already said it has no plans to embark on in the near future. The accident happened shortly before 10-30 am as Mrs Wheatland - who lives in St Lucia Park with her husband, son and 16-month-old daughter - was walking with her children down Heathcote Road, Bordon, towards the Forest Shopping Centre. The 37-year-old said: "My daughter was in a pushchair and Luke was at my side. I've taught him the Green Cross Code, but he's only three. I looked around for a moment and he ran straight into the road. "I saw it happen before it did. I saw the car coming down the road and screamed his name, but it was too late. It was horrific to watch. I can't believe he's alive with no broken bones." The toddler was knocked onto the bonnet of the car and bounced off the windscreen onto the road. A passer-by, who happened to be a nurse, helped move the child into the recovery position, while his mother called for help. "I was in shock," Mrs Wheatland said. "I don't remember helping Luke, but I did. I held him for 40 minutes until the ambulance arrived. I called 999, but it just kept ringing and ringing. I think the operator came back on the line to tell me the call couldn't get through, but I just kept on ringing and eventually somebody picked up." Police officers alerted by the operator arrived at the scene in about 10 minutes. They called the police control room to find out where the ambulance was, to be told there would be a 40-minute wait. Mrs Wheatland and the nurse could only concentrate on keeping Luke conscious as they waited for paramedics. Mrs Wheatland, a patrol officer with Nottingham police for nine years, said she knew something about response times and thought the delay was "ridiculous". She said: "My child is no more special than anyone else, but I would have thought when someone says their three-year-old has been knocked down it would be treated as a priority." The ambulance service spokeswoman told The Herald that an ambulance, scrambled immediately for the Wheatlands at 10-26 am, was redirected at 10-29 am when the control room was notified of a potentially life-threatening situation at another Bordon address. She said the second call had been about a patient who was unconscious and non- responsive which, according to Department of Health guidelines, made it a life-threatening situation and, therefore, more serious than a road traffic accident. But Mrs Wheatland said she found it hard to believe that accident victims face the risk of such delays when plans are in the pipeline to double the size of Bordon's population. She said: "I've got no problem with the way the two paramedics acted once they had arrived, but it took and hour and a quarter to get my son to hospital. "I've been a police officer so I know you've got to do your job to the best of your ability with the resources you're provided with. My husband understands that too because he's a soldier. But it's wrong for anyone to have to wait that amount of time. If it had been serious, then those minutes would have been critical. Doctors at the hospital were amazed my son had no serious injuries." According to one survey, no Bordon residents can reach a hospital in the official guideline travelling time of 30 minutes. For Hampshire County Council's Accessibility Survey, to look more closely at how easily people can get to services, officers will hold a drop-in session tomorrow, Saturday, at the Forest Centre in Bordon, between 10 am and 4 pm, to gather residents' views.
