East of England Ambulance Service explains two hour wait after medical emergency at Bury Town football match in Bury St Edmunds

The ambulance service has explained why a young man who suffered a medical emergency at a football match in Bury St Edmunds would have been waiting two hours for paramedics to arrive.

The medical incident was in the terrace at Ram Meadow behind one of the goals, 20 minutes into the fixture between Bury Town FC and Wroxham FC on Saturday, and resulted in players leaving the pitch.

Emergency services were called but a warning of a two hour wait was given.

As a result, the 20-year-old, who is a season ticket holder at the club, was picked up by his mum and taken to West Suffolk Hospital.

A statement issued by Bury Town FC later that day said the young man was feeling much better.

Regarding the two hour wait, a spokesperson for East of England Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 3.18pm on Saturday, August 24, with reports that a man had fainted at Bury Town Football Club.

"We advised there could be a delay of up to two hours because of ambulances attending medical emergencies and gave the caller advice on what to do should the patient's condition worsen.

"At 3.40pm our clinical assessment service phoned the caller and was advised the person had made their own way to hospital."

The spokesperson said the location of a patient in relation to the nearest hospital does not impact the response time as ambulances travel from call to call and are not based at hospitals.

The club thanked both teams and supporters in the ground for their patience and also thanked Bury Town FC physio Jim Crease for arriving quickly to the scene and the Wroxham FC physio for their assistance.

Chris Ward is one of the club’s directors and has been involved with Bury Town FC for about 15 years.

He said: “We guessed straight away something had happened and we were very concerned.

“Our physio was on the phone with the ambulance service and we were lucky the young man had gained consciousness and was talking to our physio.

“If we had something more serious we would’ve expected the ambulance to get there quicker but we understand it wasn't life-threatening and we’re just glad the situation turned out to be okay.”

The game was suspended for about 20 minutes before play resumed.