THE ambulance service has apologised after a young Sale boy who broke both his wrists was left in agony for more than two-and-a-half hours while waiting to be taken to hospital.

Jack Moore, 10, slipped over while Thai boxing training at Sale West Youth Centre on Monday evening, December 8, at around 8pm.

Trainer Lisa Howarth immediately called 999, but was waiting anxiously until nearly 11pm with Jack’s parents before an ambulance arrived to take him to Wythenshawe Hospital, where surgeons operated on one of his wrists.

“We didn’t want to take the risk of moving him because he was in a lot of pain and could see that one of his wrists was very badly fractured and out of place,” said Lisa.

As time went by with no sign of emergency services, Jack’s parents called 999 a further three times.

“We had applied ice to the wounds and he was getting quite cold and shivery,” said Lisa, adding that the paramedics who eventually attended were kind and apologetic.

Jack’s Grandmother, Susan Bailey, branded the two-hour wait ‘absolutely disgusting.

“This child was in agony and needed pain relief and it took that long. It’s ridiculous,” she added.

A spokesperson for North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “We understand that waiting for an ambulance can be a distressing time and apologise for the delay.

“We received the 999 call for this incident at 8.06pm, however, at that time, we were dealing with 47 immediately life-threatening and potentially life-threatening calls and these types of incidents must take priority.

“Unfortunately that does mean that some incidents may have to wait longer for a response.

“The Trust is currently receiving an unprecedented amount of 999 calls and is urging the public to only call for life-threatening or potentially life-threatening emergencies.

“If the family wish to contact us to discuss the incident, we would urge them to do so.”

The incident comes the North West Ambulance Service performed a U-turn on plans to save £14 million by taking ambulances off the road earlier this year.

This week, consultant committee chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Paul Flynn, laid bare the pressures on the NHS due to ‘years of underfunding’.

For the week ending December 8, there were more than 110,000 emergency admissions to hospital – one of the highest since records began, and nearly 30,000 more patients visited A&E compared with this time last year, However, only 91.8 per cent of patients were seen within four hours – significantly below the target of 95 per cent and down on figures from this time last year of 94.8 per cent.

Dr Flynn said: “This is the result of years of underfunding, and will not be turned around overnight despite politicians’ promises to commit additional money to the NHS or the recent announcement of £300m to alleviate winter pressures, which is in fact money taken from other over-stretched services and falls far short of what’s needed.”