A GRANDFATHER waited more than an hour for panic button responders to call an ambulance after falling in his home and being knocked unconscious.

Robert Priest, 86, of Bengairn Avenue, Patcham, tripped in his garage but managed to press his CareLink emergency button – which he wears on a necklace around his neck – before blacking out.

But when CareLink operators could not get any response from him they spent more than an hour trying to get in touch with his emergency contacts rather than calling an ambulance.

CareLink is run by Brighton and Hove City Council and both have since apologised for the delay.

But CareLink also said it is not its policy to call an ambulance after a panic button was pressed.

Mr Priest, who suffers from diabetes and is dependent on insulin and has had two heart attacks in the past, said: “I was unconscious and could have been dying.

“If I’d have had a stroke or been bleeding heavily that amount of time could have been the difference between life and death.

“I was angry and I’ve lost all confidence in CareLink.”

CareLink tried contacting Mr Priest following his fall last month, but when he did not respond they tried to convince the blind husband of one of Mr Priest’s emergency contacts to go and check on him.

Only an hour later when Mr Priest’s second emergency contact had been called and arrived at his house did CareLink call an ambulance.

Mr Priest said: “My children said to me: ‘Why don’t we get you a necklace with an alarm on?’ It’s so that if I had a fall there would be someone to pick me up and dust me down."

Describing his ordeal Mr Priest, who used to run a chain of shops, said: “In falling I knocked myself unconscious.

“I must have thought I would need assistance and pressed the button before blacking out.

“Eventually I felt well enough to drag myself on my hands and knees back into the house.

“At that point the lady who does my cleaning appeared. She pressed the button again and they called an ambulance."

CareLink assistant operations manager Emma Wills told Mr Priest in a letter: “The total time between your first alarm call and the ambulance being called to attend is one hour and fifteen minutes.

“This is longer than we would have liked but we do sometimes experience delays in the response we are arranging.

“CareLink Plus does not send an ambulance to respond to alarm calls where we have not made speech contact with the customer and we do not know the reason for the alarm call.”

A council spokesperson added: “Our highly professional CareLink Plus staff work very hard to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our customers.

“They answer around 500 alarm calls a day with customer satisfaction levels consistently over 95%.

“With regard to Mr Priest’s recent incident there was a delay in getting help to him due to an issue with his keyholders.

“We have apologised to Mr Priest for the delay and the distress this may have caused. CareLink Plus’s procedures for when to call ambulances have been approved by the South East Coast Ambulance Service.”

'Ambulance should have been called'

WHEN Robert Priest’s wife died his daughters who live near Chichester suggested he should have an emergency panic system installed.

He said: “My children live in the Chichester area and they said to me: ‘Why don’t we get you a necklace with an alarm on it?’ so that if I had a fall there would be someone to pick me up and dust me down.

“If I was a healthy 86year-old I would think this was a good thing to have in case I fell, but I am insulin dependent and have had two heart attacks so thought it was invaluable.

“I was in the garage when I tripped over. I must have pulled a piece of equipment on me.

“I was left there lying on the floor.

“They would have called out to me but not got a response because the machine is in the house and I was in the garage.”

When CareLink got no response from Mr Priest they rang his phone.

When he didn’t answer that they tried calling his first keyholder, who was out. They then tried to convince her husband, who is blind, to go and visit Mr Priest.

Only 57 minutes after Mr Priest’s first emergency call, did they call his second keyholder on her mobile. She was not home but said she could get to his house in about ten minutes.

An hour and 11 minutes after his first alarm call, Mr Priest’s friend arrived and pressed the button again and an ambulance was finally called.

Mr Priest added: “They say their procedure is to try to get hold of a keyholder, but I think their procedure is wrong.

“When the ambulance driver arrived he asked how long it had been since the fall.

“He said: ‘They should have rung us first if they couldn’t contact you.’ “They spent more than half an hour unable to get anyone to come and help me and still didn’t call an ambulance.

“I wonder how many people in the city have this service and how many are totally unaware they won’t call an ambulance?

“I have a mobile phone I take out with me when I go out in my scooter.

“I would be better to take that out to the garage and down the bottom of the garden with me and call my own ambulance if anything happens.”