A PENSONIER claims the lives of people living on the Dengie are being put at risk after a man who suffered a fall had to wait six hours for an ambulance to arrive.

Richard Saward, 72, of Newmore Close, Southminster, has slammed the ambulance service after one of his son’s relatives suffered the fall at home in the village on Sunday night at 7.30pm.

The man, in his 60s, fell down three steps and hit his head, with a relative calling 999.

A first responder and later a paramedic were both sent, but an ambulance did not arrive until 1.30am on Monday.

He was taken to Broomfield Hospital and later discharged with minor injuries.

Mr Saward, who waited an hour for an ambulance last year when he dialled 999 with a heart complaint, described the situation as unacceptable.

He said: “His daughter dialled triple nine, but the response from the ambulance service was it would be four hours before an ambulance would turn up.

“He had fallen down three steps and fell backwards against a radiator.

“This is the sort of service we are getting in the Dengie Hundreds area. Why? They are putting people’s lives at risk – it is not the first time.

“We keep being told the service is improving but the services are not improving. This shouldn’t be happening in this day and age.

“In the end it was well over four hours and the ambulance had been sent from Southend.”

Mr Saward said he believed the Dengie needed to have more access to emergency healthcare.

He added: “This has been going on for years. The area is 25 miles away from Broomfield Hospital — it is 40 minutes in a car to Chelmsford.

“We need a doctor’s surgery that has someone there 24/7 so people can go there if they have an emergency.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service apologised for the delay.

Sunday saw 3,200 emergency calls made to the trust from across the region.

The spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to the patient for their wait and any distress this may have caused them.

“We received a call on April 30 at 7.30pm to reports that the patient had fallen and dispatched a community first responder (CFR) and a paramedic on a rapid response vehicle to assist.

“The CFR was on scene within 11 minutes of the call and was shortly supported by the paramedic on the response vehicle six minutes later.

“Unfortunately due to high levels of demand that day which saw the Trust receive more than 3,200 calls regionally and more than 1,100 in Essex, we were unable to send an ambulance to convey the man to hospital until 1.32am.

“The paramedic remained with the patient until the ambulance arrived.

“He was assessed before being taken to Broomfield Hospital where we hope that he made a good recovery.

"We would urge the patient or his family to get in touch if they have any further questions or concerns.”