AN investigation is under way into why an accident victim was initially taken by ambulance to a cottage hospital, delaying her arrival at a main accident and emergency unit by more than four hours.

The ambulance service was called to Ripon Market Place on Tuesday, shortly after 12.30pm, to take a 75-year-old woman to hospital. She had severely damaged her knee after tripping and falling.

But instead of being taken directly to Harrogate District Hospital, Lillian Hannam from Pateley Bridge, was taken to nearby Ripon Community Hospital.

It was not until 4.20pm that the patient was eventually transferred to Harrogate where she later underwent an emergency operation.

Mrs Hannam's husband, Richard, said she had been at Ripon Hospital for nearly four hours before being transferred and wondered why the ambulance had not taken his wife straight to Harrogate.

"It seems a bit ridiculous," he said.

Mrs Hannam was said by her husband to be "comfortable" in Harrogate following her ordeal.

A spokesman for the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust said at the time they were particularly busy.

"But we are certainly investigating why the patient was initially taken to Ripon Hospital, which is really a cottage hospital," said the spokesman.