GEORGINA Taylor writhed in agony with her appendix just seconds away from rupturing as she waited for an ambulance that never arrived.

Her brother and partner eventually carried her out of her Brighton home as she screamed in pain after waiting more than 45 minutes for an ambulance.

The 999 operators told Georgina’s partner Chris that they had no ambulances available as they had dealt with “too many cardiac arrests” on Monday afternoon.

Her brother Stuart rushed her to hospital with just minutes to spare as surgeons who performed an emergency operation said her appendix had almost burst.

South East Coast Ambulance Service blamed delays at hospitals for struggling to keep up with demand – leading patients to fear they may be better to make their own journeys to hospital in life or death situations.

Stuart said: “She was in violent pain, vomiting and crying and Chris rang 999 to get an ambulance.

“Half an hour later they still weren’t there and when he called back was told there was a delay as there were a lot of people having cardiac arrests in the area.

“I ended up going over there and Chris said he had to get her down stairs.

“She was crying and screaming in pain.

“There were tears streaming down her face. I’ve never seen her like that.

“We didn’t know if we could be causing her even more harm, but we didn’t know whether the ambulance would ever arrive.

“We couldn’t just wait and leave her.

“So we had to carry her down the seven steps from her house to the road as she screamed in pain.

“We had to do something.”

At the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton Georgina was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and rushed into theatre for an emergency operation.

The surgeon said her appendix was just seconds from bursting.

She was last night still recovering in hospital.

A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman: “We are working hard to reach people as quickly as possible and we are prioritising patients assessed as being in a life-threatening condition based on information provided.

“We are sorry that the demand placed upon our resources and delays at hospitals waiting to hand over patients means that there are times when we are taking longer than we would like to reach some patients.

“We take any concerns raised seriously and would ask Mrs Taylor or her family to contact us directly so we can investigate the specifics of this incident.”