AN INJURED man waited 41 minutes for an ambulance – despite being just 1.5 miles from the paramedics’ base at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) has apologised for the delay, but it has been labelled “unacceptable” with an urgent call for action to ensure such an incident is not repeated.

Details of the call-out have emerged as the latest figures reveal ambulance handover times at north Cumbria’s accident and emergency departments are still missing the 30-minute target.

In November, there were 122 handovers that took more than half an hour, while 51 patients had to wait over an hour.

On January 28, the casualty, a man in his twenties, was knocked over on Denton Street, Carlisle, suffering neck and back injuries.

Bystanders rushed to help, giving the man first aid as he lay on the pavement.

The car driver involved called for an ambulance at 10.35pm, but it did not arrive for another 41 minutes – at 11.16pm.

NWAS says the slow response was down to the service having to cope with a “significantly high number of life-threatening red calls” at the time in question.

An eyewitness said: “I was gobsmacked. The car hit the lad after he stepped into the road. The impact made a real mess of the front of the car – the windscreen was totally smashed.

“The lad who was knocked over was lying on the pavement in a pool of blood, not moving.

“The guy in the car got out to check him. He rang an ambulance straight away.

“Soon after, an off-duty nurse from A&E happened to be passing and saw what happened. He’d just finished his shift and stopped to offer help.

“He was holding the lad’s neck in position. The lad had neck and back injuries.

“The nurse stopped for a full 45 minutes, looking after him.

“The nurse actually phoned A&E at one point to tell them there was a road traffic accident and we were still waiting for an ambulance.

“They told him one wasn’t available.”

The eyewitness described how the accident victim’s parents, from Denton Holme, arrived at the scene before the ambulance, bringing a duvet to keep their son warm while he waited.

Councillor Hugh McDevitt, who represents Denton Holme on Carlisle City Council, said: “This length of time is just not acceptable.

“You could walk from the ambulance base in less time than that – it’s less than two miles away.”

The councillor fears this is another example of the failings of the city’s health services, with urgent action needed to address the Cumberland Infirmary and the ambulance service.

A NWAS spokesman said: “The trust would like to offer our most sincere apologies to the patient for any distress caused.

“We understand waiting for an ambulance can be very stressful and we would like to thank everyone who assisted the patient until our crew arrived.

“The trust always strives to get our resources to patients as quickly as possible when they become available.

“At the time of the incident the trust was experiencing a significantly high number of life-threatening red calls.

“If the patient or his family would like to contact the trust with any concerns we would be happy to look into them further.”