A pensioner who fractured his pelvis after he "did the splits" slipping on wet grass was left waiting more than 12 hours for treatment.
73-year-old Tom Parry, who also split his groin and tore ligaments in the fall on the afternoon of Saturday, December 4, had to endure a unbearable six hours before paramedics arrived.
He then spent another five hours stuck in the back of ambulance outside the hospital.
Read more: Cafe owner's brutal response to customer's scathing TripAdvisor review of two cups of tea
The incident occurred after the dad-of four from Criccieth had been volunteering at his local bowls club and resulted in one passerby placing a call to the local lifeboat station to ask for advice.
10 minutes later around 10 RNLI volunteers were on the scene, phoning 999 and assisting the injured man, who was in and out of consciousness due to the pain.
Retired painter and decorator Tom told The Daily Post, "I don't really know what happened. I just slipped and did the splits.
"The RNLI lads managed to get me onto a bodyboard and moved me inside the clubhouse. I honestly don't know what I would have done if they hadn't come to help me.
"It was freezing out and one person kept bringing me hot water bottles."
He added that the ambulance service had been in regular contact with those helping him to make sure that his situation hadn't worsened and, after three hours, he was moved from a 'yellow' alert to an 'amber' alert in terms of seriousness.
However, after paramedics finally arrived at around 7.45pm and took the patient to Ysbyty Gwynedd they discovered a lengthy queue of other ambulances waiting ahead of them.
"We had to hang around until about 2.30am before I could go in," said Tom. "But the ambulance staff were brilliant with me. I can't fault them at all.
"It's not their fault that I had to wait - it's just how things were with staffing levels and Covid at the time."
Having been admitted to hospital, doctors discovered that Tom had split his groin, fractured his pelvis and torn the ligaments in his left arm and leg.
After two days in A&E he was moved on to a ward where he spent another eight days.
More scans revealed bleeding behind his pelvis and he had to be closely monitored for 24 hours due to the risks associated with his injuries.
"I couldn't move for nearly a week and every time I did I was screaming in pain, but the nurses and doctors were incredible," said Tom. "I'm so grateful."
Liz Wedley, head of service for the Welsh Ambulance Service in North Wales, added: "We are sorry to hear that Mr Parry experienced a longer than expected wait for an ambulance after his fall.
"On the day in question, we were experiencing very high call volume and demand for our services in the Gwynedd area.
"This, combined with many of our ambulances waiting outside hospitals across the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area that afternoon, led to the delay in us arriving on scene."
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline click here.
