There has been growing concern across Cornwall over waiting times for ambulances - we recently reported on a Falmouth RFC player waiting over eight hours with a neck injury at The Recreation Ground.

The Eagle's match against Bideford RFC had to be called off last month, an ambulance was called at around 4:15pm but didn't arrive until 12:45am. The delay was reportedly due to "high demand".

Helyn Wilder a Falmouth resident also shared her experience, commenting: "My mum waited three days with a broken hip, someone else I know waited 12 hours and then made their own way to the hospital. I don't blame the NHS. It's going to get worse."

Falmouth Town Councillor and Cornwall Councillor Jayne Kirkham explained the issues facing the local area, stating: "There are regularly over 20 ambulances outside Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, there is an issue where people in the hospital who are deemed fit to be medically discharged cannot go home or out of the hospital because they don't have carers at home, or they don't have a package of care in place."

Jayne Kirkham says a lack of Cornish carers could be contributing to the issue.

Jayne also shared some worrying estimates for response times, she continued: "This can mean that the ambulance waits for things like strokes and heart problems where the target is about 17 minutes for an ambulance can turn into three to four hours. In an accident where bones are broken the wait can be 24 to 48 hours. We have escalated the chronic waiting times in Cornwall to the secretary of state for health as people are, dying or suffering serious harm because of them."

It appears this isn't simply an issue brought on by the pandemic and waiting times have been getting worse in Cornwall for years, "the hospital is often on black alert. Nationally, the four-hour target that the last labour government put in place for being treated in accident emergency has not been hit for six years," Jayne added.

The PM Liz Truss appeared on ITV West Country News ahead of a Conservative party conference to make clear that the government will act on ambulance response times, she was confronted by the story of an 87-year-old man in St Columb Road that had a makeshift tent built around him during a 15-hour wait for an ambulance.

The Prime Minister said it was "completely appalling" and pointed out she had pledged to improve waiting times in the South West back in 2019.

"During covid, we saw a backlog build up in our hospitals and what the Health Secretary is working on is reducing that backlog, but also helping more people go into social care, so we can make sure that we improve on ambulance waiting times," she said in the interview with ITV.

NHS Kernow have been approached for further comment.