A WOMAN was left unable to use a defibrillator when her stepdad fell ill after operators reportedly failed to give her the correct code needed to unlock it.
Teresa Oxley's 90-year-old stepdad found himself struggling to breathe and in a great deal of pain two days before Christmas while out in Walton.
After calling paramedics, Teresa was advised to urgently find a defibrillator as a precaution in case his condition worsened before they arrived the scene.
Together with her stepsister, Julie Farrow, Teresa located the nearest life-saving decide at the Triangle Shopping Centre in Rochford Way.
The already touch-and-go situation, however, was exacerbated when operators gave they the wrong access code, leaving them unable to open the box in which the defib was stored.
“I started to get panicky because the code wouldn’t work,” said Mrs Oxley.
“My daughter-in-law, who is a nurse, went to check on my stepdad, so luckily, he was looked after.”
The operator then suggested she go to the Homelands Free Church in Garden Road, but there was no defibrillator at the site.
It was then suggested Mrs Oxley head to a care home in Elm Tree Avenue, despite the fact it had been closed for months.
“I got very worried about anyone who might need a defib in the area, but they’re given incorrect information,” said Mrs Oxley.
Luckily the sisters received a portable device from a nursing home, which the sister gratefully took, before their stepdad was assessed by a clinician before eventually finding out he had kidney stones.
Since then Mrs Oxley, whose husband has also previously had two heart attacks, has detailed the shocking experience online.
She added: "It just makes me worried about people not being able to access the devices when they need it.
“My sister filed a complaint with the ambulance service, but we still haven’t heard back if the issue has been resolved.
“I won’t trust it anymore because it is not helpful if you’re sent to a place that has been demolished.”
A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We would like to apologise for any distress caused and encourage the caller to contact our patient experience team if they have not done so already so we can investigate this incident more fully.
“The patient was assessed by a clinician in our control room and it was evaluated as safe for them to make their own way to hospital.”
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