THE father of a 16-year-old boy who is severely disabled after choking on chewing gum spoke of his anger yesterday (Thursday) after an ambulance failed to turn up to take his son from hospital into a hospice. Grahame Thomas said his son Rhys Thomas, of Holywell, waited for hours for the ambulance which simply failed to turn up. They had been told it was “en route” but it did not arrive to take Rhys for two days of assessment at T Gobaith Hospice in Conwy. The long-term aim is to have Rhys at home, with appropriate respite care, and he was due to be picked up on Wednesday afternoon and spend two days at the hospice for his needs to be assessed. Yesterday hospice staff turned up for work early, took a mini bus to Glan Clwyd Hospital to collect Rhys, and he is now at the hospice. But his father is now concerned whether an ambulance will turn up to collect him as arranged today (Friday). Rhys has been blind and unable to move or speak since his parents found him unconscious last October. The teenager spent time on a life-support machine at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, after his parents Grahame and Trish, found he had stopped breathing. He had been chewing gum before he went to bed and it lodged in his windpipe. The teenager suffered a heart attack thought to have been caused by lack of oxygen. Mr Thomas, who teaches at the autistic centre at Kinsale Hall, Mostyn, said: “I am really angry. This is an opportunity for us to look forward to the future. “The long-term aim is to have Rhys home with appropriate respite care. This is a chance for him to be assessed and for the hospice to begin to get to know him. It is going to be a very long process. “I am afraid it is just another frustration in all the frustrations we have faced with bureaucracy and petty minded people which we are trying to overcome.” Mr Thomas said it had been arranged that his son would be at T Gobaith for two nights to assess him and to give the hospital some respite. “He has been there for a year and that is causing difficulties for the hospital,” he said. “This was all arranged in advance. The ambulance was booked on Monday and it was confirmed he would be collected on Wednesday at 2pm from the children’s ward.” A spokesman for the North Wales Ambulance said: “The Welsh Ambulance Service is looking into the concerns raised.” | 
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