Jean Lloyd, who has diabetes and takes medication for heart, liver and kidney problems, broke her hip during a fall at her Cotswold Grove home in Parr.

The 70-year-old's frantic husband dialled 999 but was told they were too busy to send a paramedic team immediately.

Health bosses have since apologised to Mrs Lloyd and her family but insist they were dealing a high number of more serous incidents.

Her husband David, 73, said: "It was a total nightmare - the worst day of my life. My wife was in terrible agony for hours before the paramedics finally arrived. All I could do was wait anxiously and hold her hand. There was no way we could have moved her. She was shaking like a leaf and could have died of shock."

The initial call was made at 11am last Wednesday (December 3) but despite repeated calls it wasn't until almost 4pm that an ambulance finally arrived to take her to Whiston Hospital.

Doctors have since said the grandmother-of-three may have to stay in hospital over Christmas because of her catalogue of health problems.

Mr Lloyd added: "If the ambulance had turned up earlier it might not have been so serious. Even the ambulance driver was shocked at how long we had been waiting. We were expecting them within an hour.

"We even called our GP to see if he could help speed the process up. He was going livid about it."

Jean's son's girlfriend Michelle, a former nurse, says she dialled 999 six-times that afternoon in a bid to speed up the response.

She said: "I'm absolutely disgusted it took the ambulance so long to arrive. I explained all about her other health problems and told them her condition was deteriorating.

"The operators just kept saying they were busy and that Jean was top of their 'amber' list. Why wasn't it considered an emergency?"

A spokesperson for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) NHS Trust said: "We aim to respond to emergency calls in the shortest time possible and have a prioritisation system to ensure resources are allocated to incidents with the greatest emergency need.

"We recognise the distress and anxiety that can be caused to patients and their families and always allocate resources as quickly as possible.

"Unfortunately, this call came at a time when we were responding to a high volume of more serious and immediately life-threatening incidents. We would like to apologise to the patient and her family for the delay."