AMBULANCE bosses have changed the way crews respond to 999 calls after an incident in which an elderly woman waited for more than an hour before help arrived.

Cliff Currah, 66, from Stanhope, County Durham, was furious at the slow response by the North-East Ambulance Service (NEAS) when his 90-year-old mother badly injured herself in a fall.

Staff at the Stanhope care home where Bessie Currah lives rang 999 when they discovered her lying on the floor of her room.

Mrs Currah's son was horrified that the ambulance had to come from Durham and did not arrive for more than an hour.

Now, Simon Featherstone, chief executive of the NEAS, has written to Mr Currah apologising for the poor service received by his mother, and reassuring him that the case has led to changes in the way 999 calls are responded to.

Mr Featherstone said their records showed that the ambulance took one hour and 13 minutes.

In a letter to Mr Currah, the NEAS boss said: "It is clear that, in this instance, the NEAS has not provided a satisfactory level of service, for which I sincerely apologise.

"I would seek to assure you that any lessons learned from cases such as this form part of the continuous improvement of the service."

A spokesman for the NEAS said the Currah case had highlighted deficiencies in the patient assessment system used in the NEAS control room.

The system, which the NEAS is piloting on behalf of the Department of Health, is known as NHS Pathways.

The system is designed to ensure that each patient receives the most appropriate treatment for their symptoms.

The spokesman said the call from the care home was wrongly classified as a category C call-out, only requiring an ambulance response within one hour.

Mr Featherstone said the particular "pathway" followed on this occasion has been reviewed and similar calls will receive "a more timely response".

A spokesman for the NEAS said additional questions would now be asked to establish whether the patient can walk more than three steps and whether the injury is below or above the knee.

Mr Featherstone also admitted that the A&E operator "made mistakes throughout the call" and should not have told the caller that the vehicle would be travelling with a blue light and sirens

Mr Currah said: "At least it is an apology but I still have difficulty understanding why the ambulance had to come so far."

Mr Currah said his mother was recovering from her fall and was now back at the care home.