'Flabbergasted' Leeds lecturer is forced to repair her own dislocated shoulder after being refused ambulance

Dr Mandy Pierlejewski, 53, was at home practicing yoga on Monday morning (March 4) when she felt her shoulder dislocate.

The pain she experienced was familiar, as she said she has suffered the same injury several times before.

As she has previously, she rang 999 and asked for an ambulance.

But Dr Pierlejewski said that the operator said ambulances could now only be sent to “life-threatening” situations.

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“I was flabbergasted, because normally I’m given morphine in the back of the ambulance on the way to hospital,” she told the YEP.

“It just felt horribly wrong. The muscles in your arm start to spasm. The pain is immense. I would rate it an eight out of 10. And it gets worse the longer the shoulder is out.“

Dr Pierlejewski, who teaches at Leeds Beckett University, continued: “I was panicking because my husband was away and no one was at home.

“I sat on the bed thinking: what am I going to do? I had no option but to fix it myself.

“I asked Siri how to relocate a shoulder, and I did some deep breathing to really calm myself down.

“I couldn’t believe that I’d managed to do it, it was a huge relief.”

Dr Pierlejewski added: “I think the situation showed the state that the NHS is in. It's so underfunded that they’re only sending ambulances to life-threatening situations. The system is broken.“

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “We are sorry to hear that Dr Mandy Pierlejewski is unhappy with our response to her 999 call on Monday and do hope she is recovering from her dislocated shoulder.

"We would encourage her to get in touch with our Patient Relations Team so that they can look into the matter and liaise with her directly on the specific details relating to this.”