A pensioner who collapsed was left lying on the floor waiting for an ambulance for five hours because local call handlers were too busy.
Leon Moody, 72, fell over in his home in Kingham, Oxfordshire, at around 9am on October 5.
His carer immediately called for an ambulance and Mr Moody's son Mark, 35, from nearby Chipping Norton, rushed over. They were too scared to move him in case his injuries got worse.
After about an hour they had heard no word from South Central Ambulance Service, so Mark rang 999 again to check where the vehicle was.
It took five minutes for his call to be answered and the call handler said he had been put through to the Yorkshire branch — located more than 200 miles away — because local services were too busy to answer.
The ambulance eventually arrived after 2pm, Mr Moody said.
It comes amid an ambulance crisis across Britain, which has seen severely ill patients left waiting in the back of ambulances outside A&E units for 12 hours.
Ambulances are supposed to hand patients over to the hospital within 15 minutes of arriving so they can get back on the road– but 35,000 patients waited for more than an hour in September. It has led to concerns that patients are coming to harm, with the queues linked to two deaths last week.
Leon Moody, 72, said he has 'lost faith in the health service' after he fell in his home in Kingham, Oxfordshire, and had to wait more than five hours for an ambulance
His son Mark (right) says he was put through to Yorkshire call handlers because the local health service was so busy
