CALLS have been made for a second ambulance on a Hebridean island after a pensioner with heart problems was forced to wait two-and-a-half hours following a 999 call.

Mike Shepherd, who was later transferred to the Golden Jubilee Hospital near Glasgow as an emergency admission, had to remain in his sheltered housing flat in Tobermory, Mull, because the island’s one ambulance was answering another 999 call in Bunessan, a two-hour drive away.

During his wait the 74-year-old was comforted by a sheltered housing warden and a fast responder but tests to confirm his clinical condition could not be taken until he reached the island hospital at Craignure.

Mr Shepherd’s ordeal ended with his admission to hospital and then onto Oban Hospital for round-the-clock monitoring after the local doctor consulted with specialists in Glasgow.

He has now added his voice to the island community’s fight for a fast response vehicle to provide back-up for dual 999 calls.

He said: “I have had to have the ambulance before, about three times now they have had to come to me because of coronary problems, and it’s been here within half an hour. This time it was two-and a half hours.

“All the indications were that it was angina, but after having a triple bypass three years ago, they tell you if you get these pains ring an ambulance straight away, don’t take a chance.

“I think the situation is absolutely ridiculous because the island is so big, there are single track roads and particularly at this time of year, with extra ferries coming across, the roads are busy.”

The patient the ambulance was responding to when it was unable to attend to Mr Shepherd, Ann MacNeill, 67, had experienced breathing difficulties and has since had a heart valve replaced.

She said her daughter phoned for the ambulance after NHS 24 failed to return an earlier call for help and added: “I would say it needs a second ambulance to cover the whole of Mull.”

Islanders recently voiced a lack of confidence in the Scottish Ambulance Service’s (SAS) level of cover at an NHS drop-in meeting at Bunessan last week.

Mull councillor Mary-Jean Devon asked for the residents’ message to be relayed back to the Scottish Government.

She said: “People are now feeling very vulnerable, when they know that it can take two-and-a-half hours to get an ambulance. People don’t feel safe.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said a review group had been examining ambulance provision on Mull and Iona and arrangements were being finalised for “a fresh mechanism” for discussions between the community, NHS Highland and SAS.” 

An SAS spokesman said all calls were prioritised on clinical need to ensure the most appropriate response and added: “The service has enhanced ambulance cover in Mull with a second paramedic, creating 24/7 paramedic cover, as well as the establishment of community first responder schemes and two 24/7 landing sites for air ambulance helicopters. We will continue to monitor ambulance provision closely.”

Mr Shepherd added: “This time it wasn’t desperate for me, although it could have been with my symptoms.

“But if somebody has a stroke they have to do something quick, not in two-and-a-half hours.” Somebody could be in extreme pain or injury, with internal bleeding.

“Old people tend to get a bit anxious about things, people are worrying, but you shouldn’t have to think about that and live with it all the time in your mind.”