By Lynne Stewart

A DUNDEE woman who was forced to give birth on the floor of a relative’s house, because an ambulance operator in Edinburgh had difficulty locating her address, has said it highlights the need for local control rooms.

Rachel McCaw and Andy Ferguson had just arrived at Andy’s sister’s house in Ardler on their way home from Ninewells Hospital, where Rachel had been told she was two centimetres dilated and should go home and take para-cetamol and have a hot bath.

They had dropped in to pick up painkillers when Rachel’s waters broke and little Charlotte Louise wasted no time making her entrance into the world—much to the panic of her mum and dad.

As Rachel went into labour, Andy called for an ambulance and spoke to an operator at the centralised control room in Edinburgh. The woman had an American accent and the pair had extreme difficulty trying to understand each other.

“I was in a bit of a fluster and I spoke to an American lady in Edinburgh who had no local knowledge,” Andy said. “I was having to spell street names to her but she wasn’t understanding what I was saying. I tried to give her various different directions to find the house but I wasn’t getting anywhere.

“I must have been on the phone to the woman for about 15 to 20 minutes and I was getting very anxious. It felt like a lifetime.

“Rachel was in pain and the baby was coming. I handed the phone to my sister and I phoned the police from another phone to see if they could escort them (the ambulance) to the house.”

Andy said the chance to deliver his daughter was a “one off” and a “great experience—but it shouldn’t have had to happen really.”

Weighing 6lb 14oz, Charlotte arrived within 45 minutes of her parents arriving at her aunt’s house last Sunday.

“It might have turned out a lot differently if there had been complications with the birth, but thankfully everything turned out fine and Charlotte is healthy.”

Rachel said, “I heard Andy having to spell street names three of four times to the operator and I was shouting ‘I need to push, the baby’s coming now.’

“He phoned the police to see if they could help the ambulance find the house and by this time the baby’s head was out.

“The ambulance operator was then telling Andy’s sister over the phone what he should do to deliver the baby as we knew the ambulance wasn’t going to get there in time.

“The ambulance did arrive. We heard sirens and then they went off, so Andy’s sister went to the bottom of the road to find them. The baby gave out a tiny little yell and she was blue when she was delivered and needed some oxygen from the ambulance staff but thankfully she is fine.

“It could have been a different case entirely if there had been problems with the birth.

“The ambulance men were great. You can’t blame the American woman in Edinburgh either as it’s not her fault she didn’t know where a street in Dundee was and didn’t understand Andy.”

The couple, who have another daughter Emily, said it underlined the need for emergency control centres to be based locally as it could mean a matter of life or death.

The couple, who have another daughter Emily, said it underlined the need for emergency control centres to be based locally as it could mean a matter of life or death. Rachel said, “I think it highlights the need for control centres to be local so that operators have local knowledge.

“In our case, it was no one’s fault—but things should be run differently and it shows there is a need to have ambulance operators based locally so that local knowledge is there as it could make all the difference.

“The house is in a new built scheme but what if that happens when someone has a heart attack and they can’t find the house? Someone with local knowledge could make all the difference.”

“Thankfully everything turned out fine but it was worrying at the time.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said, “There was a combination of two things. When people call 999 they most often than not are in a high state of anxiety and it’s not unusual for there to be difficulty understanding people.

“The other was the house was in a new development and is not on a map. We use Ordnance Survey maps and sometimes there is a delay in new developments being updated.

“On the issue of control rooms, we had local control in Dundee and three years ago we merged the control room in Dundee with Edinburgh. Across Scotland we went from eight control rooms to three.

“(Before the merger) our response times were an average of nine and a half minutes for emergencies. The average response times have since been cut by a minute to eight and a half minutes. Tayside has the second fastest response times with an average of 7.6 minutes—they are only faster in Aberdeen.

“The crews have local knowledge. In our control room the operators responsible for despatching the ambulance work on the same geographical area each day. The response time for this particular case was approximately 14 minutes, and the first six minutes we were trying to establish location.”