Dame Mary Berry, 86, waited three hours for ambulance after breaking hip in garden

The broadcaster was told medics were “very, very busy” but was happy to wait
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Dame Mary Berry has revealed she had to wait three-and-a-half hours for an ambulance after breaking her hip tripping over in the garden.

The former Great British Bake Off host, 86, spent 10 days in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading in August.

Dame Mary told the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine she fell over some bricks while picking sweet peas in her garden and “went down really hard”.

She said she called husband Paul who did not answer while watching a cricket match before her son-in-law Dan came to the rescue.

Dame Mary said: “He saw me and said, ‘I’ll get an ambulance’. I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m fine’, but he overruled me. He rang for the ambulance and they said, ‘We’re very, very busy’.

“It was Sunday afternoon and there were lots of football injuries and whatever.

PA

“We waited for three-and-a-half hours, until 6pm, and quite right too! I was perfectly happy.

“There may have been a road accident. I quite understood that they were busy and Dan was caring for me. He kept me chatting.”

Dame Mary said her husband was shocked to see her eventually leave in an ambulance.

She added: “They took me to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and they were so good at explaining. One foot was turning out and they said I’d broken my hip.”

Dame Mary, who had polio as a child, underwent surgery the next morning and revealed doctors repaired her old hip rather than giving her a new one.

She added: “And oh, they were all lovely!”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in