An elderly East Kilbride woman with dementia had to lie outside for nearly three hours until an ambulance arrived after falling backwards on to a pile of stones.
And her distraught daughter said she thought her 92-year-old mum was going to “die in a heap in her own urine” while waiting for paramedics.
Sixty-year-old Alison Irvine was left “angry, upset and frustrated” at what her mum, Isabel, endured while she lay on the ground.
Alison said: “I was told it could take up to five hours for an ambulance to arrive because the crews were exceptionally busy.
"But I knew she wouldn’t be able to survive that long.
“Her lips were blue, she was struggling to breathe and her head was bleeding. I was beside myself with fear.”
Alison Irvine in the garden of her home in East Kilbride where her 92 year old mother lay injured for several hours
(Image: DAILY RECORD)
Alison phoned 999 at 4.40pm on Saturday after she ran outside to find her mum on the ground.
She said: “She’d been sitting outside chatting to her friend and the next thing I heard her scream my name.
“I ran out and discovered she’d fallen about a foot off a step backwards and I phoned 999.
"I was told it could take up to five hours for an ambulance but a paramedic phoned me back at 5.17pm to say mum had been upgraded to an hour’s wait.
"When it still hadn’t arrived at 6.22pm I phoned back and told them her breathing was really bad.
"I’d tried to lift her twice but she said her neck was sore and as a former nurse, I knew she shouldn’t be moved.
"I covered her in quilts and coats and put pillows under her because she was lying on a pile of jaggy stones.
"I knelt beside her and cuddled her to try to keep her warm.
"She told me she was desperate for the toilet, but I said she’d just need to do it lying there. It was heart-breaking to see her like that.
"I thought she was going to die in an undignified heap in her own urine.”
An ambulance eventually arrived at Isabel’s sheltered housing complex in East Kilbride around 7.33pm and took her to Hairmyres Hospital.
But she was forced to lie on a trolley in a corridor until she was eventually examined by a triage nurse at 9.43pm.
Alison said: "When she was examined, the nurse was concerned about her low oxygen levels but mum didn’t get into a cubicle until 12.39am and was sent for a head scan at 2.13am before being taken to a ward an hour later."
Isabel is still being monitored in hospital.
Alison said: "I’m confused as to what’s happened to our NHS. It has went down the tubes and it’s not all to do with COVID.
"I don’t blame the Ambulance Service. The paramedics were fabulous and so were the hospital staff.
"I blame the Scottish Government. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "We would like to sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to the patient.
"At the time of the call, we were experiencing very high demand on our services.
"We will be reviewing this case thoroughly and will contact the patient privately to apologise."
A Scottish Government spokesman said a national review of demand and capacity was being carried out of the service,. to ensure it had the resources in place to meet current and projected future demand.
That resulted in an additional £10.5m announced last year and further investment planned this year.
The spokesman added: "Work is ongoing across the Scottish Ambulance Service to tackle turnaround times at Emergency Departments."