A 93-year-old woman was left on the floor "screaming in pain" for 25 hours as she waited for an ambulance to turn up.
Elizabeth Davies suffered from a suspected hip fracture in a fall, and was left in intolerable pain for more than a day as the emergency services failed to come to her care home.
After finally being taken to hospital in Gwynedd, Bangor, she endured another 12-hour wait before being admitted to a ward.
On Monday Elizabeth underwent surgery to determine the extent of her injuries after a hip fracture was confirmed, but her family are yet to find out her exact prognosis.
Her son, Ian Davies, and daughter-in-law Susan, from Pwllheli, have been left beside themselves with worry, with Ian saying: “It was very upsetting to have to see her lying on the floor screaming in pain for over 24 hours."
The Welsh Ambulance Service has since apologised for what happened, blaming winter pressures, high demand and staff sickness levels for their unavailability at the time the family needed them the most.
Elizabeth has been a resident in a care home in Llanbedrog, Llŷn Peninsula, for more than 17 years, and had been relatively fit despite using a walking frame to get around.
But around 11.45am on Saturday, staff heard a bump and found her sprawled in the living room.
Ian, who like Susan is himself a community carer, explained: “They called for an ambulance but were advised an ambulance wouldn’t be available for six to eight hours as they were so busy.
“They said my mother would be a priority because of her age. The care home then called us and we came immediately.”
In the meantime, staff propped a pillow under Elizabeth’s head and did their best to make her comfortable on the wooden floor.
However she was unable to go to the toilet, and an absorbant pad was applied so she could urinate.
Elizabeth's son went on to praise the care home staff for their "excellent" supervision, adding that "“They put a small heater next to her to keep her warm in case she went into shock.”
Once it became apparent that there were further delays with the ambulance, staff redialed in hopes that they would come quicker.
It is understood that the care home made a total of nine calls, with a tenth being made by Ian and Susan.
Susan said: “We had to leave at midnight as we had to be up at 5.30am to go to work.
“My mother-in-law usually goes to bed at 6.30pm-7pm but she couldn’t and she was getting extremely tired.”
Care home staff then stayed with Elizabeth through the night, with Ian adding that: “Each time they called for an update, they were told my mother was a priority and an ambulance would come as soon as possible."
An ambulance finally arrived at around 1.15pm on Sunday, shockingly some 25 hours and 30 minutes after Elizabeth fell.
She was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd and is now on the hospital’s Enlli ward. However, Ian and Susan have yet to discover her prognosis.
“I don’t blame the ambulance staff because they are told what jobs to do and my mother wasn’t on the list,” said Ian.
“But I was very upset by what happened, it was unacceptable.
“The whole of the NHS is struggling at the moment and one of the biggest problems is the shortage of carers. They aren’t paid enough and no one wants to do the job.”
Stephen Sheldon, service manager for the Welsh Ambulance Service (WAS) in North Wales, has extended his apologies to Mrs Davies for her long wait.
He invited the family to contact the service directly to raise their concerns, saying: “Winter pressures coupled with a surge in demand, staff sickness levels and the wider system pressures across NHS Wales has inhibited our ability to respond. Extensive hospital handover delays are well documented and has led to some very long waits for patients.
“On the 17 and 18 December, we spent over 1,600 hours outside hospitals across Wales, waiting to hand patients over to our hospital colleagues. 563 of those hours were lost outside hospitals in North Wales.
“We are working with partners across Wales to mitigate the pressures as best we can. The public can help us by only calling 999 in a serious or life-threatening emergency so that our resources are available for those who need us most.”
