A pensioner who fell in a city shopping centre, breaking her hip, had to be taken to hospital in the back of a transit van after being told no ambulance would be available for eight hours.

Irene Bowman, 86, who has cancer, had fallen while out with her son, Nicholas. Immediately, she was in intense pain and knew she had damaged her hip. Members of the public called 999, and Nicholas was eventually told an ambulance would take eight hours to arrive. Passing medical professionals advised him she could not remain on the floor in the rain, and that she needed to get to hospital sooner.

With help from total strangers, they used a stretcher borrowed from the nearby velodrome and moved her into the back of Nicholas' van. He then drove her to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran where she received medical treatment.

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Since the fall, on Friday, October 18, she has had surgery to insert pins into her leg and remains in hospital recovering. It was, her son said, a "nightmare". You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.

Someone shot a video of passers-by, including staff from the retail park, carefully moving Mrs Bowman into the back of the van so she could be transported to hospital.

Nicholas explained they were in Spytty Retail Park and making their way back to the car when his mother fell. As a result of cancer treatment she is unsteady on her feet and fell to the floor, immediately telling Nicholas she was in pain. "The first thing she said was 'my hip, my hip'. A few passers by came running over to hold her hand because she was panicking, I was panicking as well, I thought 'this isn't happening'."

'My mother could be dead by then'

Someone called 999, and was told there was no help available. "It's a bit of a blur but I think this went on for the next half hour or so and on the third or fourth time, I rang up, and they said the ambulance could be up to eight hours. I said 'my mother could be dead by then'.

"The way they said it, there was no thought in it, no compassion" he said. Immediately after she fell, the rain was falling, and they borrowed a mat from the nearby carpet shop to transfer her to in order to shuffle her out of the rain. "She was screaming out in pain," said Nicholas, from Newport.

A passing doctor told Nicholas his mother, who had now been on the floor for two hours, couldn't remain there as she fearing hypothermia could set in, and she was in intense pain. "I was in panic stations but said I had a van, so she told me to go get it."

While he was gone, someone borrowed a stretcher from the velodrome, but he had brought a table with him as something to transfer her. She screamed during the transfer to the stretcher. "I was in autopilot, just doing what I was told, people told me to put her in the van and take her to hospital and that's what I did. But the hospital couldn't come quick enough," he said.

"It was just horrific, until you actually need an ambulance you don't realise how bad it is," he said. "We just had to do something," he added. "There was no way on this earth we could wait but it was like a war-torn country, having to put people in the back of any vehicle."

'Unacceptable'

The journey to hospital took up to 40 minutes, travelling slowly, but they were treated immediately on arrival. She has been in hospital since and has had pins inserted into her leg. "It was a nightmare, to be honest, if it wasn't for the general public with people coming from the shops offering carpets, hoodies, drinks, I don't know where I'd be. People took their time out of their day to help," he said. "It gives you faith in human kindness."

Senedd member for south east Wales, Natasha Asghar, raised the issue in the Senedd on Tuesday, November 5, saying: "My constituent's son was left with the shocking prospect of leaving his frightened mother on a cold, wet concrete floor, in danger of hypothermia, whilst waiting for an ambulance.

"Instead, members of the public rallied around and made a makeshift stretcher and lifted my constituent into the back of a Transit van and drove her to the Grange University Hospital. All of this was caught on camera and the footage I have seen makes very, very distressing viewing.

"This incident was, quite frankly, unacceptable, and had it not been for the public's quick thinking, the outcome could have been very, very different"

Trefyndd Jane Hutt replied calling it "very regrettable". She said the health secretary Jeremy Miles would "take note" of it. "It is also very admirable....it shows the community response, doesn't it? We know also that so often, paramedics can be on the scene before ambulances. I think we also have, across the chamber, examples where we are told, 'Oh, someone fell ill and an ambulance came very quickly', so we must make sure that we have consistency.

"But it is important that you do draw this attention to the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust and, indeed, obviously there is a formal complaints process, but also we obviously hope that the constituent who was affected is now receiving, I'm sure, all the care that's required."

Lee Brooks, Executive Director of Operations at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: "We are sorry to hear about Mrs Bowman's experience and would like to extend our sincere apologies to her and her son for what would have been a painful and distressing wait for help. We prioritise 999 calls according to the patient's needs, and the sickest patients will always receive help first.

"Unfortunately, the wait Mrs Bowman experienced reflects the sustained and well-documented pressures across the entire system, which is why we are thinking very differently about the way we deliver services in future and are already testing some new ways of working across Wales to understand how we can relieve some of the pressure. We would like to thank those who came to Mrs Bowman's aid and wish her a speedy recovery."