An 85-year-old Edgware woman was left with a two-inch gash to her head after being injured in an ambulance.

The patient, who does not want to be named, was being transported home from Barnet Hospital on November 3 after being treated for a suspected blood clot in her leg.

In pain and in a wheelchair, she was put in a patient transport ambulance at around 7pm, but she said the driver did not put the lock on her chair. When he drove off, the wheelchair slid backwards, smashing her head against a metal bar on the ambulance door.

"There was quite a lot of blood," she said. "I was in shock and bleeding profusely, but I was not thinking straight and wanted to go home as I had been at the hospital all day."

The driver wanted to take her back to Barnet Hospital, but agreed to take her home. But instead of taking her straight home, he proceeded to drop off another patient in Borehamwood and was going to take another to Mill Hill, when the injured woman complained.

"The whole thing was so outrageous," she said. "When I told people what happened, they couldn't believe that you can get injured in the ambulance. It was quite traumatic."

The woman's son called NHS Direct, who despatched paramedics to her home. The paramedics told her she had a two-inch cut to the back of her head which required urgent hospital treatment and took her to Edgware Community Hospital.

A Barnet Hospital spokeswoman apologised for the incident, which is being investigated. "Suitable action will be taken if the driver is found not to have acted appropriately, following the investigation," the spokeswoman said.

Ambulance care assistants, employed by Caring For You, operators of the patient transport service on behalf of the trust, have received refresher training.

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