Grandmother and cancer patient Marita James speaks out after waiting three hours for ambulance

A grandmother has spoken from her hospital bed after she was left injured on a footpath for hours before help arrived. Watch her video.

A grandmother and cancer patient has spoken out after she was forced to wait almost three hours for an ambulance on a freezing footpath with fractured bones.

From her hospital bed Marita James said she was “very sore and tired” but recovering after she fell while pruning a tree with her daughter Naomi outside their Andrews Farm home last Saturday.

The 77 year old, who has hip and facial factures, and spoke out about time delay between the call for help and her arrival at Lyell McEwin Hospital.

“It is disgusting,” Mrs James said.

Cancer patient Marita James speaks from her hospital bed after waiting almost three hours waiting for an ambulance with broken bones. Video: 7NEWS

Her distressed daughter called triple-0 “straight away” at 4.40pm but help failed to arrive until 7.25pm.

On Sunday, Ms James told 7News she had received an apology from South Australian health minister Chris Picton but had not been told he would look into the situation.

“I do fear that what happened with my mum will happen with someone else and it could be a lot worse,” she said.

“It make it seems to them like its okay to leave them, we don’t have the services so we can’t do anything.”

A seriously injured Andrews Farm’s Marita James while she waited for an ambulance. Her daughter says she had no choice but to lie there in the cold until help arrived. Picture 7NEWS

Shadow health minister Ashton Hurn told 7News she was “surprised” by the inaction.

“On two recent occasion this government has been very quick to launch investigations and reviews and it does strike me as surprising that they failed to do so on this occasion and for this family,” she said.

Mr Picton took to Twitter to confirm a review into the “awful case” had been requested.

“This is exactly why as a new government we are investing so much in ambos and hospital beds to address the crisis affecting patients like Mrs James,” Mr Picton said.

A review has already been requested into the awful case of Mrs James’ ambulance delay.

This was clear in statements earlier today.

This is exactly why as a new government we are investing so much in ambos and hospital beds to address the crisis affecting patients like Mrs James

— Chris Picton MP (@PictonChris) June 26, 2022

The almost three-hour wait compares with the target 16-minute deadline for a priority 2 emergency.

Last Sunday SA Ambulance apologised to the injured woman with paramedics initially triaging Mrs James as a priority 3 cases – which has a 30-minute target response time – before her case was upgraded.

It is now reviewing the care provided as is standard when response time targets are not met.

It follows the story of 92-year-old Maureen Wortley waiting outside a hospital for hours in the freezing cold and revelations this week of a health crisis worse than anyone imagined – with doctors saying “someone will die”.