Birmingham woman spent 11 hours waiting for ambulance

Joan Massey is now being treated in hospital in Birmingham

An ambulance service has apologised after a 95-year-old woman was left lying on a floor for 11 hours after a fall.

Joan Massey fell at her home in Birmingham on Wednesday, her family said, and is now in hospital being treated for dehydration.

Her daughter said she found her mother when she went to visit in the morning.

West Midlands Ambulance Service apologised and said it is dealing with high levels of demand.

Helen Brooks thinks her mother had slipped and had not been on the floor before she arrived.

Mrs Massey's daughter said the wait was "heartbreaking"

Her mother was unable to drink, so she was given wet kitchen roll to suck and the family spooned water into her mouth while they waited for the ambulance.

The family believes the dehydration she is being treated for is related to her long wait.

"Somebody somewhere needs to sort something out to save this sort of thing happening, it is terrible, it just shouldn't be allowed to happen," Mr Brooks said.

"Anybody that is stuck on the floor that can't get anywhere, they need help but the elderly generation they need so much help now."

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It comes as a study by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found ambulances are being forced to queue outside the majority of emergency departments before they can unload patients.

But about two-thirds of A&Es polled indicated they were struggling to meet the standard every day, it said.