"Ambulance delays resulting from A&E delays"

Fell in back yard and broke my leg in early March at about 10.30am. Paramedic was there in about 15 mins, but there was no ambulance available.

After 30 mins, an ambulance with private crew was available which was ok as I was not emergency and the private crew was not allowed to travel under blue light. This arrived about 15 mins later, eventually I was loaded in the ambulance and taken to The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

At the hospital the crew started to unload me and it was raining quite hard, as I was just clear of the ambulance somebody from the hospital informed the crew I could not be unloaded, and would have to go back on board the ambulance, which is what was done.

I asked the ambulance crew how many other ambulances were there and was told 5 on one side and 6 on the other. After about 1 hour I was unloaded again and placed in the corridor, with screens around me, along with several other patients.

Although I did not count them, there were numerous ambulance crews in the corridor where I was, instead of being available to go out on road to pick up patients.

I tell this story on behalf of ambulance crews, as in a lot of cases it is not their fault that they are not available in an emergency and that the shortage of beds in my local hospital has a knock on effect on another service.