London - The family of a great-grandmother are furious after she was forced to share her ambulance with a dog.
Paramedics taking 86-year-old Brenda Wilding to hospital pulled over to rescue a "wet and distressed" labrador from the side of the road. The journey continued with Mrs Wilding vomiting from a severe gallbladder condition while a paramedic tried to stop the ‘hyper’ dog from jumping on her.
The pensioner had dialled 999 from her home in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, on November 12 after doubling over with pain.
But when the ambulance was taking her along the A10 to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, it suddenly pulled over. Mrs Wilding said: ‘I couldn’t see much of what was going on but I couldn’t understand what was taking so long. I was left in the ambulance and could hear people talking about a dog.
"The next thing I knew, the paramedic who had been riding in the back of the ambulance with me appeared with a black labrador and asked if I minded if the dog came too.
"I was completely baffled. It’s not what you expect in a medical environment, but I agreed. All I wanted to do was get to the hospital."
Mrs Wilding said the labrador was "hyper" and tried to jump at her while she lay in the back. She added: "The paramedic put a whiteboard between me and the dog and held the labrador away so it couldn’t get at me. I had no idea what was going on."
"In their account of events, the paramedics said the dog was "friendly, non-aggressive and quite clearly cold, wet and distressed’ when they discovered it.
They claimed the grandmother of four had "smiled" when she saw the dog and that she "had an interest in dogs, something that was quite prominent given the number of dog ornaments in her property".
They had also concluded the pensioner’s condition was "not time-critical".
Mrs Wilding’s granddaughter Justine Butcher, 46, a medically-retired NHS nurse, also of Littleport, said: "Nan told me she’d shared an ambulance with a wet dog and at first we thought she must have got confused.
"But she kept saying it over and over so I contacted East of England Ambulance Service to demand an investigation. My nan might like dog ornaments but that doesn’t mean she wants to share an ambulance with a live one when she’s sick and vulnerable.
"She could have gotten seriously infected. She was vomiting in the ambulance and the paramedic had one hand on the dog trying to keep it from jumping at her.
"To me, that is not sanitary. Nan was vulnerable and in their care – she should have been their top priority.
‘It infuriates me that the NHS have said there’s a shortage of ambulances and paramedics, but these two found the time and resources to stop for a dog.’
A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said on Sunday night: "We would like to apologise to Brenda and her family for any distress and inconvenience caused. The incident has been investigated and the staff involved understand that their actions were against trust guidelines and now understand there is no legal responsibility to stop for a domestic dog, even if it is in danger."
The dog was later reunited with its owner.