A health trust has apologised after a Londoner reached his injured mother in Devon - travelling almost 200 miles - quicker than the local ambulance.

After his 77-year-old mother fell and broke her hip on Saturday, Mark Clements caught a bus, a tube and two trains as he took the four-hour journey to Exmouth.

An ambulance was called at 9am but did not arrive until seven hours later.

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said bad weather had led to high demand at the time.

"My mother was lying in an awkward position on a cold conservatory floor and was unable to move," Mr Clements told The Times.


"I could not believe it. Mum was still on the floor. She is 77 and she could not move and we could not move her."

He added: "She was in immense pain. In that seven-hour period we called them [ambulance service] six times. The delay just went on and on."

When paramedics eventually arrived they gave excellent care, Mr Clements said, and were "equally appalled and astonished" by the delay.

His mother is recovering in a hospital in Exeter after having surgery on Sunday.

SWASFT said there was not considered to be any immediate threat to life when the call was first assessed.

"We are sorry that we were not able reach this patient sooner," a spokeswoman said.

"Like all ambulance services across the country, we continue to see an unprecedented rise in demand for our services. As such, we must prioritise our response for those most critically ill patients.

"Unfortunately it can be very hard to manage the demand with finite resources, and occasionally those patients assessed as being less urgent do experience delays.

"We would not wish for any patient to experience a long wait, and we continue to work exceptionally hard to deliver the highest quality response for patients."