An Edinburgh woman was left lying on her floor for four and a half hours on Tuesday night while she waited on an ambulance.
The 26-year-old woman, who wished not to be named, experienced unbelievable pain and was unable to move from the floor in her North Edinburgh home as she waited on help after dislocating her leg.
After suffering from a genetic condition since her teens, the woman often experiences joint dislocations, and has had to call 999 multiple times in the past to put her limb back into place.
Despite experiencing over two hour delays in the past, on Tuesday (April 6), she was left in an "unacceptable" position from 6-10.30pm after phoning for help.
Shocked and furious at the extreme delay, today her sister, who also wished not to be named, told Edinburgh Live that it has left them concerned for her welfare.
She said: "She has a condition that causes her to regularly dislocate some of her joints, and has also had frequent surgery, it can happen every few months so she is used to it but it's still very painful.
"It's not uncommon and this isn't the first time she has been waiting for ages before anyone arrives.
"After phoning 999 she waited a while but then her leg started to go numb and she began to get pins and needles, which is a sign of the circulation being cut off.
"She phoned back and they said someone would be there as soon as possible, she waited another two hours and phoned again and they said you're next on the list, then about 20 minutes later an ambulance arrived, but that was 4.5 hours in total.
"Our mum was able to go round while she waited, but there's not much she could do and it was ridiculous how long they had to wait.
"The longer it's left the worse it gets, which means it's more difficult to put back in and also it means a much longer and painful recovery time.
"If a crew arrives quickly they can often relocate it at home and she doesn't have to go to hospital, but if it's left for long then she will have to go."
After having to wait in agony for such a long period of time, the woman was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to relocate the joint, before being discharged at 6am the next day.
Now, the family want to know that this wait time will not happen again, and are growing increasingly concerned over a similar wait happening in the future.
Her sister added:"The people that attend and the ambulance staff are always fantastic, they do they best they can and sometimes they're just as frustrated that she's been left that long.
"She even tried to put the joint back in herself, she was in excruciating pain.
"She's still a bit sore now and is still coming round properly from all the morphine, it was a long night. It really sets her back and impacts on her life, we all rally round her but its infuriating that it could be avoided.
"It's the fact that it's not just a one off and she will need an ambulance again, we need that confirmation that next time she will get one as soon as she needs them.
"I am exceptionally worried for next time, I'm conscious of Covid and I know the NHS is under extreme pressure but it's not acceptable to just leave someone on the floor.
"Dislocation is a serious situation and we won't have been the only people in Edinburgh that will have been affected by those delays last night.
The Scottish Ambulance Service apologised to the patient and vowed to learn any lessons from the incident.
A spokesperson added: "While we are limited in what we can say due to patient confidentiality, we can confirm we received a call on Tuesday (April 6) which was initially triaged as non-immediately life threatening.
"At the time of this incident we were experiencing exceptionally high demand in the Lothian area and our crews were working hard to help our sickest patients.
"We would like to apologise for the wait this patient experienced and we will be reviewing this incident thoroughly to identify any learnings."
