THE plight of a great-grandfather who was left waiting for an ambulance for more than four hours after a fall has been highlighted in the House of Commons by Leigh MP Andy Burnham.

Alan Smedley, aged 77, fell over while walking his dog and went into shock as he waited for an ambulance to arrive to treat his fractured shoulder joint.

The shadow health secretary raised the issue of ambulance waiting times in Parliament as he called on the government to do more to improve the system.

He said: “Last week, we heard of a 77-year-old great-grandfather from Bolton who waited for more than four hours on a freezing pavement.

“Whatever the Secretary of State says, those are not isolated cases. New figures last week showed that in November a staggering 17,000 critically ill patients who were classified as needing an urgent category A 999 response waited longer than 19 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

“Will the Secretary of State agree that this chaos is now putting lives at risk and cannot carry on?”

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government is taking measures and accused Mr Burnham of ‘scaremongering’.

He added: “That is why we have 2,000 more doctors and 5,000 more nurses compared with a year ago.

“Frankly, the last thing those doctors and nurses on the front line want is scaremongering by the right hon. Gentleman—posters saying that the NHS might cease to exist under this Government.

“We are backing the NHS with more doctors, more nurses, more resources and a long-term plan.”