An elderly man was forced to spend two hours trying to get his wife to hospital as the ambulance service said they would not respond to the incident, it has been claimed.
Audrey Tickner, 87, fell at home in Burry Port, Wales, on Thursday last week and her husband Ronald Tickner, 83, called 999 as the woman was "screaming in agony", Wales Online reports.
Their daughter Karen Wilson said her parents were initially told to wait for a call, but two hours later Mr Tickner was told he had to bring his wife to hospital himself as they would not send an ambulance.
The man, who has severe arthritis and severe disability from previous cancer radiotherapy, spent one hour trying to get Mrs Tickner from the floor onto a bed and one more hour to put her into his car.
At the hospital, Mrs Tickner had an X-Ray which showed she had sustained two severe breaks in her upper arm.
Her daughter said the woman was put in a sling and sent home, after doctors said one of the broken bones was so sharp it could puncture her skin.
Mrs Wilson said she is "extremely angry" at the way her mum waas treated despite being in severe pain.
She told Wales Online: "That is the state of supposed NHS care now. I'm horrified and extremely angry. She is at home with no medical help and surviving on paracetamol every four hours.
"My mum had got up to go to the toilet and fell on her shoulder. She was screaming in agony. My mum has got a very high pain threshold so my dad knew she was seriously hurt.
"He called 999 and he was told to wait for a call back from a nurse, which came an hour and 45 minutes later. In the meantime my mum didn't know what to do, she was in agony."
She added: "The nurse called back and said that they were not going to be sending an ambulance and that my dad would have to use the car.
"There was no explanation given at all. He had to get her off the floor and get her clothes on, and then get her into the car which took a long time. My dad just could not get her up.
"She went to Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli and had an X-Ray done, she had two breaks in her upper arm. It was put in a sling and she was told to take painkillers.
"My dad phoned me to tell me what had happened the next morning and I was dumbfounded. I can't believe an ambulance did not come. I just could not believe it. What would have happened if my dad did not have a car?"
Mrs Wilson is now in the process of lodging a complaint with the Welsh Ambulance Service as she hopes similar incidents will not happen again.
Sonia Thompson, interim assistant director of operations ambulance response for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “We were really sorry to hear about the experience of Mrs Tickner and would like to extend our apology to her and her family.
“We have experienced significant and well-documented pressures on our ambulance service in recent weeks, which culminated on Monday, July 20, in a ‘ business continuity incident ’. This essentially meant that demand on the service exceeded our capacity to respond and this continued throughout that week.
"We hope that we will be able to speak directly with Mrs Tickner and her family to understand exactly what happened."
