AN elderly Minehead woman who fell and broke her hip waited in pain for ten hours for paramedics and an ambulance to take her to hospital.

The 86-year-old, who lives in Oak Lodge Crescent, tripped on a small coffee table in her living room at about 6 am and was unable to move.

She used a personal alarm to alert near-neighbours Anthony and Doreen Shipley, of Clanville Grange, who reached her within about 30 minutes.

However, it was not until the evening that an ambulance crew arrived to take her to Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, and they called for support from Minehead firefighters to help move the woman from the apartment.

The pensioner then underwent an operation to fit a new hip joint and spent a week in hospital before being allowed home.

Mr Shipley told the Free Press of what seemed like the ambulance service’s ‘indifference’ to his neighbour’s distress and the ‘numerous’ calls he made to ask for help.

Mr Shipley said he even called Minehead Medical Centre to ask for somebody to attend to do something to ease his neighbour’s pain. But he said ‘they were not interested’ and advised him to call for an ambulance.

Mr Shipley said: “She had fallen and broken her hip and was lying on the floor in severe pain and pleading to be moved. She was in excruciating pain. It was distressing for everybody because we felt so hopeless.

“All we could do was reassure her and support her with pillows.

“This is happening all too often, We know of other people who have been in a similar predicament as well.”

Mr Shipley said recently a woman fell outside Stuarts Home Furnishers, in Friday Street, and waited four hours for an ambulance, although on this occasion a local nursing team went along and helped to pick her up.

“It is an absolute disgrace and nobody seems to do anything about it,” said Mr Shipley.

Mr Shipley added: “This is an appalling situation due to lack of management, planning, and resources.

“No doubt the usual excuses will be wheeled out about unprecedented demand, over the years when I have had the occasion to require an ambulance quite often the same excuse is used.

“We deserve a better service, people’s lives and welfare are definitely at risk.”

The Free Press asked Minehead Medical Centre for a response but nobody was available at the time of going to print.

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust told the Free Press: “We are sorry that we were unable to provide this patient with a timely response.

“Our ambulance clinicians strive every day to give their best to patients, but our performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to handover delays at emergency departments.

“Health and social care services are under enormous pressure.

“We are working with our partners to ensure our ambulance clinicians can get back out on the road as quickly as possible, to respond to other 999 calls within the community.”

In March, the Free Press reported how a terminally ill Minehead man waited 12 hours for an ambulance after a fall in his bathroom one evening.