THE ambulance service has apologised after a man waited two hours for paramedics to arrive at his home.
Monica Roscorla works as a full-time carer for her 58-year-old husband, Christopher, who suffered two strokes last year. On Monday night he became stranded in the bathroom with leg pains.
She said she dialled 999 at around 8pm but an ambulance did not arrive.
She said she then rang again at 9pm and was told an ambulance was on the way.
East Midlands Ambulance Service said it should have responded to the call within 30 minutes but was experiencing "high demand" at the time and was prioritising patients with life-threatening problems.
Mrs Roscorla said: "At 9.55pm I rang again and was told again there was an ambulance coming. It arrived at 10.10pm – two hours after I first called."
Mrs Roscorla dialled 999 because her husband had been in pain and she found a lump on his side.
She said: "Usually he is able to move his legs but he couldn't move his right leg."
Once paramedics arrived they assessed Mr Roscorla and decided not to take him in to hospital.
The 50-year-old, of Edale Drive, in Spondon, said her husband had his first stroke in March 2012.
She said: "He was recuperating from that one nicely but then in September he had a massive stroke and is not recuperating from that very well."
On the night of the incident Mr Roscorla's mobility was particularly poor.
His wife said: "It took four of us to get him into the bathroom. When he was there he couldn't get up again as he couldn't move his right leg.
"That's when I called the ambulance and he had to wait in the bathroom for two hours. He was getting really stressed.
"He was starting to go a funny colour and he was unable to use his legs."
Last year East Midlands Ambulance Service was fined for a second year running for missing a target for getting to patients on time.
The service is supposed to get an ambulance to 95% of all emergency calls within 19 minutes. It achieved 92.32% – the worst performance in the country.
It is also supposed to reach 75% of life-threatening calls within eight minutes. It hit the target, achieving 75.15%.
As a result of missing the 19-minute target, it will be fined £2.5 million by NHS Derbyshire County, which is responsible for overseeing its performance. But the money will be reinvested back into the service.
Peter Ripley, the service's divisional director for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, said: "We are sorry for the distress and anxiety experienced by Mr and Mrs Roscorla.
"Using the information given to us by the caller, we categorised the incident as not immediately life-threatening, requiring a response within 30 minutes.
"We were experiencing high demand on our service, with calls coming in for people reported to be in a life-threatening or serious condition, and these calls had to take priority.
"Our clinical assessment team telephoned the caller and asked questions to get an update on the patient's condition and recorded that a response was required within 20 minutes.
"An ambulance became available at Royal Derby Hospital, having given a clinical handover for another patient, and was dispatched to the house. The patient did not require transportation to hospital.
"We are actively recruiting more people to our frontline and this investment, together with the changes we are making to our service under our Being the Best plan, will mean a continued improvement in our response to emergency 999 calls."
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