Samantha Glasswell with her 17-month-old son Bear Warburton at their home in West Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell

An Auckland couple whose toddler smashed his head through a window drove their son to hospital while he bled through two towels after learning there were ambulance delays.

Bear had been playing on a small bike in the family's home early last month when he fell backward into a ranchslider, causing the glass to break and shards to tear into his scalp, narrowly missing his fontanelles.

The 17-month-old's mother, Samantha Glasswell, said although her partner was next to their child and able to soften the blow, the damage had already been done.

"I called the ambulance, I could hardly talk, to be honest. I was panicking so much."

Glasswell said the call taker first asked for her address - in suburban West Auckland near Waitākere Hospital - and then whether he was breathing.

"He was crying so it was pretty obvious."

Then she said they were asked whether the blood was spurting out of his head, in case it was an artery cut, which it wasn't.

From there, Glasswell told the Herald on Sunday the call taker informed them there could be delays.

Although she "absolutely supports" St John, and said she knew they had to prioritise people who are not breathing or have cut an artery, she was surprised at the delay.

"I was just kind of panicking in my mind. What the hell do we do? Obviously, he needs to go to the hospital. And we, luckily thank God, we were quite close to hospital."

In a statement, St John Auckland Area operations manager Andrew Everiss said although they cannot discuss details of a patient's care due to privacy, he confirmed they did receive a call from the family's address.

"The caller was advised an ambulance would be sent but that there were delays in the area. The caller cancelled the ambulance at 10.37am, citing they would self-transport."

With Glasswell behind the wheel, the couple raced to the emergency department, her partner holding their son as his head continued to bleed through the towels.

"I was just like speeding and overtaking people and running red lights, I just did not care.

"I don't know how much blood he can lose before he actually like passes out or dies."

When they arrived her partner rushed in the door with their son, but after Glasswell parked she was unable to join them because of Covid-19 safety protocols

"They would not let me in so I just sat outside crying for about half an hour until the paediatric nurse came and got me."

Up until this point, she had no idea what was going on as the couple were unable to communicate because they had left their phones at home in the rush to leave.

Once she was allowed in they took Bear into a resus room, and health workers cleaned his wound and then put in about 10 stitches.

"We definitely felt cared for, once we were there it was good, it was just the process of getting to that point."

They were discharged about 12 hours later and referred to primary care for after-treatment to take out the stitches.

"My partner and I have PTSD, anytime he [Bear] even like stumbles. Our hearts just raced around, and we'd be walking around making sure he wasn't even close to a window or anything. But now he's fine. He's got these big scars in his head obviously but he'll be okay."

Luckily she said none of his arteries, or major organs, were hit by the shards and none of the cuts was on his face.

Following the incident, the couple replaced their bottom window with safety glass so the same thing doesn't happen again.

Everiss said St John had and would continue to implement several measures to manage the impact of the demand on their emergency ambulance service, including prioritising the most life-threatening calls.

"Where people do request an ambulance for a non-life- or limb-threatening problem, they can expect a call back from a registered nurse or paramedic, who will provide the same care and advice they would receive if an ambulance crew attended.

"If an ambulance is required and it's for a non-urgent incident, people can expect a delay. Any delay is always regrettable, and we acknowledge the added distress it may have on someone who is already facing a worrying or traumatic situation."

He apologised if, in this instance, they did not meet the family's expectations.

St John and the wider health sector had anticipated this surge in demand, Everiss said, but so far it had been exceeding their modelling and forecasts.

"For example, the total number of 111 calls nationally versus projected 111 calls [in the past four weeks] was 54,647 for June against the projected number of 51,098 calls – or almost 7 per cent [118] more per day."