AN ELDERLY man had to wait nine hours for an ambulance after slipping and dislocating his shoulder.

Robin Hughes' family is now joining calls for questions to be asked of South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which is already accused of failing in their care after another patient was left waiting for four hours for paramedics to arrive.

As reported by the Daily Echo yesterday, Arctic Convoy veteran Bill Tennet from Bishopstoke received an apology from the ambulance service after he was left waiting hours after a fall.

Now another family has come forward to tell of their agonising wait for help to arrive.

Seventy-year-old Robin, 70, had only been out of hospital for a few weeks after suffering a stroke when he fell at his Southampton home.

Denise Bridle-Gate stayed with her brother for nine “unbearable” hours at his flat in Hampton Street, Southampton, after he slipped on his laminate floor.

Now the family have said they fear long waiting times are all too common for people across Hampshire while a county MP is now calling for an investigation into the service.

Denise, 73, from Bassett said: “This was unacceptable. It really worries me because Robin is a vulnerable person. I worry about what could happen to other people.”

In December last year the Daily Echo publicised an appeal after Robin, who suffers from schizophrenia, went missing and was later found at a hospital having suffered a stroke.

Two years ago Denise also found him collapsed with a bleed on the brain, having been unable to contact him.

On Saturday night Denise went round to his flat after failing to reach him by phone and found him lying on the floor.

“We found Robin stuck between his bed and the window, he had fallen and was in too much pain to move, it was really upsetting to see and I phoned an ambulance straight away,” she said.

Denise called for an ambulance around 11pm – but nobody arrived until after 7am the following morning.

She added: “I must have called them at least four times to see where they were and was given no clue, I was told I would have to sit tight.

“I was panicked, I told them about his stroke and bleed to the brain, that he was in pain from his shoulder and was going into a deep sleep. It was very distressing and it’s not good enough that an emergency service is nine hours late.”

Robin was taken to hospital with a dislocated shoulder and remains there undergoing rehabilitation.

After reading of Mr Tennet’s plight yesterday Eastleigh MP Mims Davis said she would be writing to the ambulance service for answers.

“This was a totally unacceptable delay and I will be writing to the ambulance service, as a matter of urgency, to find out what went wrong.

“There are always challenges in the service, particularly at this time of year, but this is way beyond what should be happening and I will be pressing for an investigation to take place to look into the exact circumstances of the incident so that it cannot happen to another couple.”

Daily Echo:

“There is no doubt that SCAS do a super job in the vast majority of cases, often in very difficult circumstances, but these are life and death situations, so the highest standards must be adhered to all the time.”

A spokesman for SCAS said the service had categorised the call as non-life threatening, requiring a response within 30 minutes, based on information given by Denise.

He said Saturday night was always a busy time for emergency services but it was made worse by a number of serious road traffic accidents, including a fatal crash around the same time as Denise’s call.

Combined with other, more serious, emergencies and patient handover problems at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, it meant the availability of ambulances and crews was reduced.

The spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to the patient for our response to this incident and while we would always strive to meet all our response times to every patient, unfortunately in this instance due to a combination of the time of the call coinciding with a series of life-threatening road traffic collisions and other incidents in the local area, all appropriate vehicles and crews were prioritised to attend other life-threatening emergency calls until just after 7am.

“The trust has launched a full investigation into the incident and will be sharing this with the patient and his family once completed.

“We would invite the patient and their family to formally contact our patient experience team so that we can address any further concerns or feedback that they have.”