Jeremy Corbyn has reacted in horror to the image of a retired nurse, 75, left waiting three hours on the cold ground for an ambulance.
Pat McDonald, who worked as an NHS nurse for 35 years, was badly injured after falling outside her home in Birkenhead.
Her daughter Katie explained how her Pat, who has a number of existing health problems, ended up laying in the freezing cold for hours before help arrived.
Now the Labour leader has said the horror of vulnerable people waiting hours for an ambulance "has to end".
He tweeted his reaction to the image of Pat, saying: "Pat dedicated her life as a nurse to care for others.
"Thanks to this government, she was left to wait three hours on a cold pavement for an ambulance. This has to end."
Pat's family were afraid to move her as they did not know the extent of her injuries - so were forced to cover her in coats and hot water bottles during the huge wait.
Ms McDonald said that when they arrived at Arrowe Park Hospital she saw the extent of the crisis facing the NHS, reports Liverpool Echo.
She said: "There were four corridors full of paramedics waiting with patients - they can't leave them until they get a bed and there just aren't enough beds.
"Cuts and a lack of investment in our NHS means that wards are being closed all over the country because there aren’t enough nurses to staff them."
She added: "This is not a criticism of the paramedics, they were fantastic when they arrived and really apologetic for the wait - I told them it wasn't their fault."
"This is the government's fault."
Katie, who also works as an NHS nurse, says that over the past five years the situation for those working in and using the NHS has dramatically worsened.
She said: "The pressures are unbelievable. There are nurses crying every day because they simply can't offer the level of care to people that they need.
"Shifts feel like jumping on and off a hamster wheel - often you go home and come back 12 hours later and the same patients are still there waiting to be seen."
Earlier this month it was revealed that A&E waiting times are at their worst on record.
Less than three quarters of people who sought care at A&E units in England in October were treated and then discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours – the smallest proportion since the target was introduced in 2004.
The problems at Arrowe Park specifically were highlighted when an ECHO investigation found that one patient in April 2018 waited in an ambulance for six hours and 14 minutes from arriving at the Wirral hospital before they were handed over to A&E staff.
The Conservatives are coming under increasing pressure over the NHS in the General Election campaign ahead of the vote on December 12.
A spokesperson for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), said: “We apologise for the wait and send our best wishes to Ms McDonald.
“Due to the number of 999 calls we receive, we sometimes have more emergencies than we have available ambulances. This unfortunately means that patients do sometimes have to wait longer than we would like.
“We must prioritise based on severity of the patient’s condition to make sure that we get to people in an immediately life-threatening condition as soon as possible.
“Yesterday we were particularly busy, with 233 emergencies waiting for a response across the trust at the time of the call. As well as clinical need, we do take into account the circumstances of the patient and we did our best to get to Ms McDonald as soon as possible.
“Our patient safety team will be happy to look into this further if she or her family would like to get in touch with them.”
