A pensioner was left lying in a cold street for nine hours while waiting for an ambulance.
Mary Kinsella, 72, fell over and broke her hip as she walked her dog in Helston, Cornwall on Tuesday afternoon.
An ambulance was requested at 1.35pm but turned up nine hours later - at 10.30pm.
Her family phoned 999 every hour but were told one simply wasn't available.
After finally arriving at the hospital, Mary was left waiting for a further 24 hours because all the beds were occupied, reports Cornwall Live.
The report comes as another pensioner, Emma Hardy, told of being forced to lie on a runway at Newquay Airport in a 13-hour wait for an ambulance.
It is thought the lack of available ambulances in the region stems from crews not being able to unload patients into the hospital in a timely manner.
Mary's granddaughter, Bethany, said: " We were regularly calling 999 and the handlers just kept reiterating that there was nothing they could do and that they were extremely busy.
"The paramedics themselves called us from the ambulance queue at Treliske to keep us informed but the only update was that nan was top priority but they couldn’t predict the wait time.
"They arrived at 10.30pm."
Speaking on the day after the incident, Wednesday morning, Bethany continued: "She is still in an ambulance now.
"I went into work this morning and was under the impression that she was in hospital finally as the doctor called me to say that she has broken her hip and that she was going to be in for a hip replacement on Friday.
"But then when I went back it turns out she is still in an ambulance as there are no beds.
“She is settled as she is on a lot of morphine and had a nerve block to ease the pain before the operation."
Beth's family has been left frustrated at the situation, particularly because Mary has an underlying heart condition.
She said: “Our family are very shocked and appalled at the situation. It’s upsetting to see anyone you love in pain and injured, never mind your 72-year-old grandparent laying in the freezing cold for nine hours without any assistance at all.
“We couldn’t move her because she was in complete agony.
"She has an underlying heart condition which we kept reiterating to the emergency services as she was getting chest pains throughout - my mum and my brother had been there since they got the call to say it had happened, I turned up at 6pm when I finished work and she was still shaking from shock and pain.
“You hear stories about this stuff but you just don’t believe it. I think more people need to know about this because something needs to be done.
"I absolutely dread to think about what’s been going on to other poorly/injured people ov"er Cornwall that we don’t hear about."
However, Beth was eager to praise all of those who stopped to help Mary.
She added: “The paramedics were just amazing, they were so apologetic and of course, this is none of their fault at all. They are mentally, emotionally, and physically drained working in such tireless conditions.
"The main reason I am doing this and wanting to put the story out there is because the paramedics pleaded with us to do so, they want more people to make a stand and be made aware so that we can all speak up and hopefully a change is made.
“The community were amazing. We had so many people checking we were okay, bringing blankets, hot water bottles, hot drinks, flashlights, snacks etc.”
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said its performance has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
A spokesperson said: “We are sorry that we were unable to provide a timely response to Ms Kinsella.
"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."
A spokesperson for Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) said: “Our staff are doing everything they can to get patients into the emergency department; none of us want anyone to experience long waits in ambulances.
"We currently have nearly 120 people in our hospitals, and a similar number in community hospitals, who are waiting to go home with support or to other care settings. If we could make those beds available, we would not have ambulances waiting.
“We are working tirelessly to get a steady flow of patients out of the emergency department and our assessment units throughout the day and, where needed, admitted onto our wards.
"We’re using our discharge lounge for those patients ready to leave hospital, to help us free up beds and ambulances as quickly as we can.
“The local health and social care system remains under sustained pressure and we are working together to keep people safe and make sure they can get the right care in the place that’s most appropriate for their needs."
