AN elderly woman who suffered a broken neck in an accident at her home was forced to wait six hours for an ambulance to arrive.

Shirley Raycraft, 79, and her husband Alan, who are both housebound, were trapped on the floor of their bedroom following the incident.

The couple have mobility problems and the accident happened when Mrs Raycraft tried to help her husband when he started to fall as they were going to bed.

Mr Raycraft, 79, from Worthing, said: “We both ended up falling on to the floor.

“We have a Carelink system and I pressed it and they said they would get in contact with the ambulance service.

“I ended up contacting them several times and each time they said they were aware and an ambulance would be coming.

“I told them my wife had an old injury and we had to be careful if she ever got hurt.

“I couldn’t turn over to get to her and so we just had to to stay there.

“It was a very difficult experience to go through.

“I didn’t have to go into hospital but my wife did and they later discovered she had suffered a broken neck.

“That’s a really serious injury and she had to lie there for hours before she could be taken to hospital.

“She’s been there now for three weeks and I’m not sure when she will be getting out.

“I am worried about her and I’m hoping she will eventually be able to come home.

“I cannot believe we had to wait so long. It was an emergency.”

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said it received a call at about 10.30pm and the ambulance arrived at the scene at 4.15am.

A spokeswoman said: “Secamb is sorry for the delay in responding to this emergency and for the distress this must have caused the couple.

“Concerns raised by patients and their families are always taken very seriously and we will urgently look into this matter.

“If the couple concerned or their family would like to contact us, we would be more than happy to discuss the incident with them.

“Demand for our service is very high and this is impacting on our ability to reach patients as quickly as we would like.

“Therefore, we would urge the general public to consider very carefully whether they need ambulance assistance or whether they can seek alternative help elsewhere.

“This will allow us to focus on patients who need us the most.”

Secamb is under constant pressure and has struggled to hit response time targets.

It says staff shortages and long waits at hospital accident and emergency departments has added to the problem.

It is currently in special measures after being branded by the Care Quality Commission.