A MUM has started her long road to recovery after she broke both legs when she fell from the grasp of medics.

Pensioner Ella Hirst was being carried up two flights of stairs in a chair by four members of staff from YorMed Ambulance Service when she felt herself slipping out of the seat.

She told the medics to stop and put her down so she could sit up when she was just yards from her home in Coggan Close, South Bank.

The 70-year-old asked the medics to support her weight, however, when Ms Hirst stood up, they failed to hold her and the 18-and-a-half stone woman fell onto the floor, suffering serious injuries and banging her head on a wall.

She had been in hospital to receive treatment for cellulitis and was relieved to be going home.

However, she was in so much pain she was taken back to hospital just hours after she had left.

Speaking at the time, Ms Hirst said: “I started to fall when I was on the stairs and they didn’t believe me until I screamed the place down and they stopped.

“They put me down and told me to get back in the chair, but I couldn’t because I can’t hold my weight"

Nearly three weeks on, she is still in York Hospital but has begun physiotherapy.

Ms Hirst’s daughter Zoe, who lives with her in Coggan Close and is her mother’s full time carer, said her mum would not be going back to her second floor home.

“She is slowly but surely getting over what happened,” she said.

“She has got an occupational therapist working with her and is getting some physio.

“Her legs are still very sore and she is only able to do exercises in bed.

“There was talk of putting her in a place on her own, but I don’t want to do that because we have lived together for so long now that it wouldn’t work if she was by herself.

“It’s definitely going to be a long haul.”

Ms Hirst must remain in hospital until alternative housing is found for her.

YorMed said they were aware of the accident when The Press contacted them after Ms Hirst was injured.

The company said it would investigate what happened and has offered to visit Ms Hirst in hospital.