Woman left in pain for three hours waiting for an ambulance

0 Shadow health spokesman Miles Briggs launched attack The Scottish Ambulance Service has apologised after a woman was left stranded on an Edinburgh street in pain for three and a half hours.

The woman, who was showing signs of hypothermia, tripped on St Mary’s Street and sustained a suspected broken collarbone.

But despite a number of 999 calls from members of the public, paramedics did not arrive to treat the woman, believed to be in her 30s, for more than three hours.

Passersby covered her in jackets following the fall, just after 1pm yesterday, in an attempt to keep her warm, but a passing doctor recognised she was suffering from hypothermia.

Resident Frank Galbraith, 59, said: “She was in distress, unable to move and shivering badly. By 4pm it had started to rain with various people laying jackets on her to keep her warm and dry.

“A Swedish doctor arrived just before the ambulance who said she had a suspected broken collarbone and was showing signs of hypothermia.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “This clearly shows the organisation is more over-stretched than ever. It is completely unacceptable for someone to have to wait in pain for such a long time, making an already traumatic experience even worse.”

A spokesperson from the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We apologise for the delay in our response, we were experiencing an exceptionally high level of demand at the time in the area.”