THE ambulance service has apologised after a spike in the number of emergency calls led to long delays.

Elderly Yak Wan, who suffers from a raft of health problems and was vomiting blood, was left waiting for an ambulance for more than three hours.

A North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) spokesman said the delay was the result of an unusually-high number of calls on the day in question.

He apologised to Mr Wan and his family, and invited them to get in touch to discuss the matter further.

Mr Wan’s daughter, Helen, called an ambulance because her 70-year-old father, who is diabetic and suffered a stroke two years ago, was in pain and vomiting blood.

Despite the initial call going in at 1.45pm on Monday, the ambulance did not arrive until around 5pm.

Mr Wan, of Regent Street, Nelson, is now being treated for suspected stomach ulcers in Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Family friend Carol Mitchell said they were lucky it was not something more serious, and said a blue light vehicle should have been dispatched.

She said: “He was in agony – really in pain and being sick, with blood in it. Helen called them back two, or three times, but they just said they’d get there as soon as they could.

"At one point, she was screaming because he was unresponsive. I just think it’s appalling. If it had been a heart attack, he would not have stood a chance.”

An NWAS spokesman said: “The trust appreciates that waiting for an ambulance can be distressing and would like to apologise for the extended delay in attending to Mr Wan.

“On Monday the trust received a very high number of calls, up by 17per cent on the previous Monday, and we endeavoured to get an ambulance to Mr Wan as quickly as possible.

"Due to the number of immediately life-threatening calls we received, this was not possible for some time.

“Should the patient, or his family, wish to discuss this matter further, we would ask them to make contact with us.”