Alamy
A mum has spoken of her outrage after an ambulance took over an hour and a half to arrive after her 14-month-old son fell down the stairs at home.
Leanne Williams, 20, was distraught after toddler McKenzie took a tumble down the flight of 14 steps at their house in Shoebury, Essex after getting past his baby-gate.
She then reportedly waited 45 minutes for a call back from the 999 ambulance service after first alerting them, but was told it would take another HOUR and a HALF for an ambulance to arrive with them.
The angry mum told her local paper that she had no idea whether McKenzie had damaged his neck or spine in the fall.
"I was worried that he would get worse or have a fit or go to sleep and never wake up," she said, adding that she was 'angry' at the way the ambulance service had treated her.
An ambulance eventually arrived at their home at 9.17pm – an hour and 37 minutes after they were called. By then, Leanne had already been taken to hospital with her little boy by his worried grandparents. He was found to have bruising and a lump the size of a 50 pence piece on his head.
An ambulance service spokesman told the Southend Standard that they do their 'very best' to get to patients within an 'appropriate time-frame'.
"Sometimes this is a challenge if we're very busy elsewhere with more serious cases such as cardiac arrests, strokes and unconsciousness," the spokesman added, "The trust is however currently planning resources better to fit in with where and when demand lies in an effort to improve response times."