The Welsh Ambulance Service has apologised to the family of a Powys man who waited eight hours for an ambulance after suffering a stroke.

On May 15, Robert Brown's family phoned for an ambulance after he fell over and began showing signs of a stroke.

The family live in Montgomery, with other members arriving at the scene to sit with Robert and help the situation in whatever way they could.

But having phoned early in the afternoon, his family then waited until 7.30pm for an ambulance to arrive, an ordeal that his brother Frank described as “emotionally distressing”.

Sonia Thompson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Assistant Director of Operations for the Emergency Medical Services, said “We would like to apologise to Mr Brown for an unacceptable wait for help.

“This is not the service we aim to provide, and we recognise how distressing it is for patients and their loved ones when they face a long wait.”

NHS advice stresses the importance of a quick response time, emphasising that the sooner someone who is having a stroke receives medical attention, the better their chances of a good recovery.

Robert is now in an intensive care unit being monitored while doctors plan to treat a bleed on the brain.

“Poor ambulance response times are a symptom of the pressures across the entire health and social care system," Ms Thompson added. "Our ability to get to patients quickly has been significantly hampered in recent months, and we’re sorry to all those patients who have had a poor experience, of which Mr Brown was one.

“We’re continuing to work with partners to find solutions to the complex and long-standing issues affecting the entire unscheduled care system.

“The public can help by only calling 999 in a serious or life-threatening emergency, for everything else, the NHS 111 Wales symptom checkers are the best source of health information and advice.”

“We would invite Mr Brown’s family to contact the Trust directly so that we can better understand their concerns and look into what happened in more detail.”