A 78-year-old woman waiting almost three hours for an ambulance after collapsing is “unacceptable”.

On Tuesday, an elderly woman collapsed on Newcomen Road in Dartmouth and had to wait outside on the pavement wrapped in a foil blanket.

A witness said the woman collapsed at 11.15am on Tuesday, September 18, and the ambulance arrived at the scene at around 2.10pm.

Members of the community rallied together to support the elderly woman who collapsed outside Edward’s Fudge Kitchen prior to the emergency services arriving.

The witness suspected the collapsed woman had a broken hip and a head injury and said two Canadian doctors on holiday in the town helped at the scene.

RNLI Dart also stepped up to help the vulnerable woman despite not providing first responders anymore.

A spokesperson from RNLI Dart said: “A local lady saw the elderly woman who had collapsed in the street and called her boyfriend who was in the RNLI Dart Lifeboat crew.

“She knew that the more experienced crew were also First Aid trained. He passed the news to fellow lifeboatman Yorkie Lomas.”

Yorkie is an ex-marine, provides first aid at events, has been trained as a first aider by the RNLI and had previously been a first responder in Dartmouth.

“He attended immediately as a concerned member of the public to give what care he could” added the spokesperson.

The RNLI Dart has confirmed that Yorkie is no longer a first responder and the lifesaving volunteers do not provide first aid care outside of their role as lifeboatmen.

A spokesperson for the Women of Dartmouth and District group which recently held a protest against the closure of Dartmouth and Kingswear Hospital said the treatment of this “vulnerable lady is unacceptable”.

The spokesperson continued: “This is an example of what has become the norm for us here in Dartmouth. We have literally been abandoned.

“We are all in a permanent state of anxiety re our health care and response times.

“How dare Sarah Wollaston and Liz Davenport try to tell us these changes are in our best interests when it is obvious these dangerous decisions will lead to loss of life and turn an unhappy incident into a trauma lasting many hours.

“We need our hospital reopened as soon as possible and our NHS services reinstated before the winter sets in.

“Women of Dartmouth and District wish the lady well and send our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.”

The group has invited members of the public to join in a demonstration on Friday, September 21, from 1pm to 2pm at Torbay Hospital. It is scheduled to coincide with the annual meeting of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and the Clinical Commissioning Group.

Echoing the disappointment in the incident earlier this week on Tuesday, September 18, Mike Mills, chairman of the Dartmouth Healthcare Action Group said the scenario could have been different if the cottage hospital was still open.

He said: ‘Yet again in the last two days there has been two serious incidents where immediate treatment could have been provided in the Community Hospital as opposed to three hours waiting on the street for an ambulance.

“The Trust will say it is an ambulance service problem, while the ambulance service will say their ambulances are delayed at A&E waiting to discharge patients.

“Meanwhile our community continues to suffer while the finger pointing goes on.”

The Southwestern Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has apologised for not reaching the lady more quickly.

A spokesperson said: “At the time of this call there were several serious life-threatening, time critical incidents in the Torbay area-such as those in cardiac arrest or having a stroke.

“Managing the demand on the ambulance service across the South West can be very challenging.

“Whilst we always strive to reach our patients in a timely manner, we must prioritise those with the greatest clinical need.

“Sometimes this means that less poorly patients do not get the response that we would wish or they may receive an appropriate alternative means of transport to a treatment centre.”