A Goulburn woman waited 'in agony' for almost an hour-and-a-half for ambulance to arrive after breaking her shoulder in three places.
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Kerriann Morris was on her way to a doctor's appointment on July 28, 2020 at a medical facility on Ross Street when a stumble landed her on a journey to the emergency room.
Ms Morris said she got out of the car to attend a 10:30am appointment to refill a script when she fell.
"I got out the car, it was raining and I tripped," she said.
"Because it was wet I went sliding along like a seal and broke my shoulder... I was in excruciating pain.
"I couldn't get up off the ground and out of of the rain because I'd recently had a neck and a back operation, and now had a busted shoulder and leg."
According to a NSW Ambulance spokesperson the initial Triple Zero '000' call was put in at 11:01am.
Twice The Goulburn Post asked what time the ambulance arrived, but NSW Ambulance did not respond to the question.
According to a text message sent to a family member the ambulance arrived at 12:20pm.
Meanwhile, Ms Morris was still outside in the rain, on the ground. She said at the time she was "suffering".
"The doctors came and told me the ambulance was going to be about an hour and the closest one was at Bungendore," she said.
"I thought: How am I going to get out of the rain?
"A lovely gentleman was holding an umbrella over me and so many nice people tried to help."
Staff from a building next door brought out a lift chair to assist Ms Morris.
"I managed to get up on my knees but my knee was busted and it was so painful - then I couldn't get back down," she said.
The grandmother "threw [herself] back" and eventually got into a wheelchair before she was taken indoors.
"I had to wait in pain, in agony," she said.
Ms Morris said she couldn't get into a car due to her injuries and had to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
The Goulburn woman emphasised that the paramedics were "fantastic" when they finally arrived.
"They were so lovely, so good at their job but [the issue was] waiting in excruciating pain for them to get there," Ms Morris said.
Ms Morris was in hospital for two days. She broke her shoulder in three places and sustained injuries to her leg in the fall.
She has been sleeping in an armchair since returning home from hospital.
She said her shoulder had frozen from being in a sling and she couldn't sleep lying down.
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Ms Morris is expected to make a full recovery in another six weeks.
The NSW Ambulance spokesperson said an initial review of the incident was conducted and the case was deemed to be correctly prioritised as a response not requiring lights or sirens.
They said local crews were assigned to higher priority jobs in the area at the time.
"Call backs were made to obtain condition updates and reassure the patient, who was in the care of the medical centre staff and had already undergone basic treatment," the spokesperson said.
"The patient was transported in a stable condition to Goulburn Hospital.
"NSW Ambulance works to ensure the closest available paramedics respond to patients in the event of a medical emergency, with life-threatening injuries/ illnesses always triaged as a priority. NSW Ambulance has not received a complaint regarding this case and have offered to meet the family to discuss their concerns."
According to the Bureau of Health Information the median wait time in the Goulburn Mulwaree region from April to June 2020 was 12.5 minutes for urgent cases, 8.9 minutes for life-threatening cases and 10.3 minutes for emergency cases.
