'I thought I would die waiting for an ambulance'
Lois HarrisonA woman who waited 12 hours for an ambulance has said she thought she was going to die in her home waiting for treatment.
Lois Harrison, 37, said she spent almost a week calling NHS 111 after falling ill with flu over Christmas, but a urinary tract infection which spread to her kidneys left her no option but to call the ambulance.
It arrived 12 hours after the initial call, but she said she waited another three hours outside the hospital before being seen.
"I thought I was going to die in my room to be honest, I really did," she said, speaking after the ambulance service apologised and declared a critical incident due to increased demand across 999 and extensive hospital handover delays.
Ms Harrison, from Treherbert, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said she had lost all confidence in ambulances to respond to a life-threatening illness after her experience.
"I didn't feel confident calling [the ambulance] anyway, I knew there were problems and they were having delays but I had no idea it was that bad, it was quite a shock really," she said.
The mother-of- three said she called NHS 111 on seven separate occasions and was left on hold for more than two hours in one instance.
Ms Harrison said the service called several times during that time to clarify if she still needed an ambulance, and was offered a taxi instead.
Twelve hours on, her difficulties did not end when she arrived at the hospital, as a three-hour wait outside the hospital followed.
She recalled counting seven ambulances outside the hospital waiting for treatment.
Getty Images"No-one should be being treated in an emergency ambulance that should be out on the road picking up seriously ill or injured people," she said.
"It's quite a trauma, it will really stay with me to be honest."
Ms Harrison was not the only patient waiting outside hospitals across Wales on Monday, as half of all the Welsh Ambulance Service vehicles were doing the same.
Due to the demand on the service, a rare critical incident was declared on Monday evening, urging the public only to call 999 for serious emergencies.
The last time an incident like this was declared was in December 2020 - and yet again Covid, but this time it was the flu which played its part.
Jason Killens, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, apologised to those who waited too long and continued to wait under "really difficult circumstances this winter".
On Tuesday, health chiefs put out a plea for people to be mindful about how much they drink on New Year's Eve, and not to put further stress on a system already under strain.