MONMOUTH Assembly Member Nick Ramsay has asked for steps to be taken to avoid long delays in non-urgent ambulance calls after hearing of an elderly constituent who had to endure a nine hour wait before being collected and taken to hospital.

Describing such delays as "distressing and totally unacceptable", Mr Ramsay said: "My constituent, who is 88, was told that an ambulance would collect her at 1.30pm from her home in Abergavenny to take her to Nevill Hall Hospital and she duly cancelled her carers' visits.

"At 6.30pm when the ambulance had still not appeared, her daughter phoned ambulance control and was told that due to an influx of 999 calls they were unable to provide an estimated time of arrival.

"She was eventually collected at 10.45pm –  after a wait of over nine hours.

"While I appreciate that the number of emergency calls the service receives each day cannot be known in advance, I feel there should be a way that 'non-urgent' calls could be handed more quickly or patients at least kept informed of when they are likely to be reached.

"In the case of elderly patients who are forced to cancel carers, this can cause additional problems and risks for their safety, especially if they live alone.

"I have written to the Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust in the hope that action will be taken to avoid such long delays."