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Leek's Betsy Hulme, 83, was rescued by fire crews after an ambulance was delayed for seven hours. Son Simon, an ex-ambulance technician, said emergency response times are 'absolutely disgusting.' West Midlands Ambulance Service says it's apologised to Betsy - and says it was experiencing long hand-over delays at hospitals - which effectively took 13 ambulances off the roads. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service says it has a specially-trained falls team working alongside the NHS to help relieve pressure on the ambulance service. The team has been in place since December 2022 and since then they have assisted more than 1,000 patients who have fallen over. It says calls still come via 999 and NHS 111, who will make the initial triage, and then assign the service’s falls team to patients who aren’t injured but need some assistance.