A FORMER policeman has slammed the Great Western Ambulance Service after a woman with a head injury had to wait over two hours to get to hospital.

Clive Washbourne, of Whitfield Road, Thornbury, said he was disgusted by the length of time he and other good Samaritans were forced to wait after calling 999 for a neighbour.

Mr Washbourne was one of three passers-by who stopped to help a woman in her early 60s who collapsed in Whitfield Road on July 27.

The woman, believed to be a diabetic, is thought to have passed out because of low blood sugar levels.

However, despite the prompt reactions of Mr Washbourne and other passers-by including the local postman, the woman, who had suffered a head injury, was left for more than two hours before reaching hospital.

Mr Washbourne, who is a retired traffic police officer, said: "I think it was disgusting having to wait so long.

"The postman made four 999 calls. Surely there was an ambulance somewhere that could have responded.

"The lady was diabetic, but we only knew that because we knew her as a neighbour, otherwise she could have gone into a coma.

"I think it was terrible all the waiting we had to do and she had such a nasty head injury.

"Apparently she was treated as a 'red', which is top priority, but if that's the treatment you get as red it is disgusting."

Figures released in June showed that the Great Western Ambulance Service had the worst response times in the country.

The figures, released by the NHS Information Centre, revealed that the service, which covers South Gloucestershire, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, responded to emergency incidents within eight minutes only 72 per cent of the time. The national average is 77 per cent.

A Great Western Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We received a call at 12.22pm on July 27 about a 62-year-old woman who had fallen in Whitfield Road, Thornbury.

"The nearest available resources attended, as all other local resources were dealing with incidents.

"A rapid response vehicle from Lockleaze arrived on the scene at 12.56pm, followed by a land ambulance from Almondsbury at 13.32pm.

"The patient was treated at the scene and transferred to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, where she arrived at 2.41pm."