A WINCHESTER secondary school pupil was left waiting more than five hours for an ambulance. 

The Hampshire Chronicle understands that a student, at The Henry Beaufort School in Harestock, injured themselves during the morning break and staff had to call 999 for an ambulance. 

At the request of the emergency services, the pupil had to remain lying on the ground until paramedics arrived. 

An ambulance eventually arrived at 4.11pm, after all the other students had gone home, and more than five hours after the school called for help at 10.59am on Tuesday October 15. 

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Mark Ainsworth, executive director of Operations at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very sorry that some patients are experiencing long waits for an ambulance. We are actively working with our hospital partners to release ambulances from emergency departments in a more timely manner.

"We are also working on improvements within the Trust to ensure patients receive the most appropriate support, which for some could be telephone advice from a clinician, again allowing us to improve our response time for patients who do need an ambulance.

“The call for this incident came in at 10:59 and was triaged as a category 3 call – urgent but not life-threatening. On the day, there were significant challenges with higher priority calls needing a response. An ambulance was dispatched at 16:05 and arrived at the school at 16:11.

“We are sorry for the delay experienced on this incident. If the patient’s family have further questions or concerns, we would urge them to contact our patient experience team on 0300 123 9280.”

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A concerned parent wrote to the Chronicle: "It is outrageous that a child was left to lay on the ground for at least five hours waiting for medical care

"It must have been incredibly traumatic for them and their family, as well as the hundreds of students who walked past worrying about what was happening and why he was lying there for so long. Why was no one coming to help? Would the same thing happen if they got hurt?

"I know many school parents who say their kids came home distressed by what they had seen and full of questions and worry. The knock-on effect of this student being left for so long means anxiety spread across the school and will stay with many kids now."

The Henry Beaufort School has been contacted for comment.