A GREAT-grandmother, aged 77, who broke her wrist after falling over on Canvey , waited an hour and 20 minutes to be taken to hospital.

Pauline Browne was not considered a priority by ambulance bosses as she was still conscious having suffered the fall in Canvey High Street.

Mrs Browne, of Kings Park, Canvey, didn’t even get an ambulance sent to her and was eventually taken to hospital in a paramedic’s rapid response car.

Following her fall, she was helped by passing firefighters, a good Samaritan who called 999 and an off-duty paramedic, who kept her comfortable until help eventually arrived.

A furious Mrs Browne said: “I should not be relying on people who haven’t been called to give up their free time to deal with me. It’s all wrong. It’s disgraceful.

“I went sprawling and was literally laid out on the ground after I tripped over a bad piece of pavement.”

Mrs Browne, who has four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, had an operation at Southend Hospital on Tuesday, five days after the fall on Thursday.

She has now had to cancel a two-week holiday with friends to the Canary island of Fuerteventura so she can recover and attend follow-up appointments.

Gary Sanderson, from the East of England Ambulance Service, said the 999 call was classed as non life-threatening and req-uired a response or phone assessment within an hour.

He said: “First and foremost, we do our very best to get to patients within the target, but sometimes this is a challenge if we’re very busy elsewhere with more serious cases, such as cardiac arrests, strokes and unconsciousness, which take precedence over non-life-threatening calls.

“We hope the patient is making a speedy recovery and if she wishes to discuss our response to this incident, she can contact us.”