Woman abuses paramedics treating elderly woman for suspected heart attack because they ‘blocked her car’

Granddaughter of patient says woman was 'screaming and shouting' at ambulance crew

The incident reportedly took place outside of a Marks & Spencer store in Basildon, Essex, on Wednesday (Getty Images)

An ambulance crew treating an 89-year-old woman for a suspected heart attack were abused by a motorist for “blocking her car”, according to the granddaughter of the patient.

The unnamed woman was allegedly “screaming and shouting” at paramedics who were treating the elderly woman and banged on the side of the vehicle.

Kerry Davis, the elderly woman’s granddaughter, said she witnessed the abuse and condemned the motorist for “going crazy” at the crew.

She said the incident took place after her grandmother collapsed in her arms in a Marks & Spencer store in Basildon, Essex on 10 July.

The woman, who was believed to be in her 60s, also reportedly squared up to Ms Davis’ father and shouted at him.

“When my nan started to collapse in my arms. I literally thought she was dying,” Ms Davis said.

“When the ambulance arrived they said this was really serious. She could see all of this.

“But at the same time, this woman was putting her shopping into her car, and she was like ‘Are they [the paramedics] going to move?’”

The granddaughter said the motorist started screaming when she was told the ambulance crew would not be able to say how long they would take to leave.

Ms Davis’ said her grandmother suffers from an irregular heartbeat.

She was taken from the M&S store to have an ECG test (an electrocardiogram), which measures electrical activity from the heart to diagnose and monitor conditions.

This was when the woman allegedly started to point her finger at Ms Davis’ father.

“The ambulance team took my nan out to the ambulance and did all of her vitals because they obviously thought it was serious,” she said.

“It was awful. She got right in my dad’s face, pointing her fat finger in his face.”

She described the woman’s behaviour as “disgusting”.

“If that happened to me, I would wait. You don’t know what is happening in the ambulance, everyone would understand,” she said.

Dorothy Hosein of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust told The Independent: “Our staff should not have to work in an environment where they fear assault or abuse in any form, especially when they are doing their best to care for people in the east of England.

“It is entirely unacceptable that any member of our staff, both on the frontline, or anywhere else, is subjected to abuse of any kind.”

She added: “We are running our #DontChooseToAbuse campaign to encourage members of the public to make a choice and treat ambulance staff with respect.”

Agencies contributed to this report