A TWO hour delay by the ambulance service to reach an elderly woman who fell and fractured her shoulder has been slammed as 'unacceptable' by witnesses who helped care for her during her agonising wait.

The 79-year-old woman who fell at 5pm last Thursday at the Shaw Village Centre was finally taken to hospital by ambulance a few minutes past 7pm.

As she waited, locals and staff from the nearby Village Inn came to her aid and their actions have been praised by John Hunter who contacted the Adver to say he dreads to think what could have happened without the kindness of those who cared for her.

"The ambulance was called at a few minutes past 5pm, and finally arrived at a few minutes past 7pm," he said.

"If it hadn't been for the exemplary response of the staff at the Village Inn, who stayed with her throughout the duration, who knows what would have happened. The fact is that lady was 79-years-old and the level of response was unacceptable.

"Somebody didn't do their job, and there are many of us who would put it another way. The woman was badly injured and had some fractures, and this was an unacceptable delay."

Mr Hunter said some help had been dispatched to Shaw Village Centre after around an hour of waiting, and a single paramedic to assessed the woman

"A paramedic did arrive after about an hour, but she was on her own and they had to make the lady as comfortable as possible," he said. It was another hour after that when an ambulance arrived."

Staff at the Village Inn said they had only been doing their duties as first aiders and didn't want any praise, adding nobody was to blame for the incident or the delay.

The South Western Ambulance Service said help had arrived at the scene within an hour, but emergencies such as life-threatening incidents had to take priority for their teams.

"A call was received at 5.01pm reporting that a female in her 70s had fallen and injured her shoulder at the Shaw Village Shopping Centre," said a spokesman.

"A paramedic arrived at the scene at 5.49pm and assessed the patient and began treatment.

"All calls to 999 must be prioritised and at times the number of life-threatening emergencies in a given area impacts the trust’s response times to patients with lower priority needs.

"Unfortunately this meant that on this occasion it took until 6.58pm for an ambulance to arrive to be able to transport the patient to hospital.

"If the patient’s family would like any further information about the incident we would urge them to get in touch with our patient experience team."