AMBULANCE bosses apologised this week for a 12-hour delay in responding to a 999 call when a terminally ill Minehead man suffered a fall in the bathroom of his home.

The man’s wife called for an ambulance at about 7.30pm last Friday (March 4) and was then forced to sit on the bathroom floor all night with her husband until paramedics turned up at about 7.30am the following day.

The delay was criticised by local resident Peggy Sidewater, who said: “It is ridiculous that we do not have that sort of ambulance cover for Minehead. To wait 12 hours for an ambulance is not on, whatever their excuses.”

Mrs Sidewater, a retired accounts and finance worker, said the man’s wife had initially dialled the NHS 111 line but was advised she should ring 999 for an ambulance.

“They just told her she was in a queue and it was going to take a long time for someone to come out,” said Mrs Sidewater.

“Someone did keep calling back every hour to check on how her husband was. But it is a sorry state of affairs.

“I do not know why we do not have a falls team like they do in Taunton who just come out to people who have fallen over and help them.”

Mrs Sidewater said it seemed residents would be better off calling the fire brigade to get help in such situations.

She said there was increasingly a ‘bad feeling’ about NHS services in Minehead as residents were experiencing more and more difficulties even making an appointment to see a GP.

“It has never been this bad before,” she said. “It does not really inspire confidence in the NHS.”

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We are sorry that, due to the health and social care system being under severe pressure, some patients are having to wait longer for an ambulance.

“One of the reasons for this is due to the length of time it’s taking us to hand over patients into busy hospitals.

“We are working closely with NHS partners to address these delays, so our crews can get back out on the road for other patients.

“However, even with the additional resources we are making available, the number of ambulances currently waiting for prolonged periods of time at Emergency Departments inevitably impacts on our ability to respond to patients.”