This family are furious after great-gran had to share ambulance with a stray dog

The NHS has apologised to an 86-year-old great-grandmother who shared an ambulance with a dog — after paramedics stopped to rescue it.

Brenda Wilding was taken to hospital with severe stomach problems relating to a gallbladder condition, but parademics had to halt the ambulance when a black Labrador ran in the way.

However, after failing to shoo him from the road, the medics decided to rescue the stray.

They insisted the gran-of-four was happy with the dog there, but her family slammed the “breech of health and safety” rules.

Brenda’s granddaughter Justine Butcher, 46, of Littlefort, Cambridgeshire, said: “My nan might like dog ornaments but that doesn’t mean she wants to share an ambulance with a live one when she’s sick and vulnerable. She could have gotten seriously infected.

“She was vomiting in the ambulance and the paramedic had one hand on the dog trying to keep it from jumping at her. To me, that is not sanitary.”

In a letter, Dr T Davis of East of England Ambulance said the paramedics “understand their actions were not compliant with Trust guidelines” and apologised for any stress caused.

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Brenda said: “I couldn’t see much of what was going on but I couldn’t understand what was taking so long. I was left in the ambulance and could hear people talking about a dog.

“The next thing I knew the paramedic who’d been riding in the back of the ambulance with me appeared with a black Labrador behind him and asked if I minded if the dog came too.

“I was completely baffled. It’s not what you expect in a medical environment, but I agreed. All I wanted to do was get to hospital.”

By way of explanation, paramedics said the dog was “friendly, non-aggressive and quite clearly cold, wet and distressed” when discovered.

They claimed Brenda “smiled” when she saw the dog and said “she had an interest in dogs, something that was quite prominent given the number of dog ornaments in her property”.

However, Justine said she couldn’t believe what she was reading.

“How dare they make a decision based on the fact she had a few ornaments in her house,” she said.

“Ambulances are supposed to be sanitary places and Nan could have had any number of infections when they let that dog in.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said:

“We would like to apologise to Brenda and her family for any distress and inconvenience caused.

“The incident has been investigated and the staff involved understand that their actions were against Trust guidelines and now understand there is no legal responsibility to stop for a domestic dog, even if it is in danger.”