A BRYNAMAN pensioner has spoken of his digust at having to wait an hour and a half for a paramedic - only to be left stranded outside accident and emergency because there were no spare beds.

Tony Parsons, of Park Lane, was advised by an out-of-hours doctor to ring for an ambulance after experiencing chest pains.

The 75-year-old said he phoned around 3.30pm and it wasn't until an hour and a half later that a Rapid Response Unit arrived at his home after answering a code red from Cardigan.

He said: "The paramedic stayed with me until the ambulance arrived and I eventually arrived at Prince Phillip Hospital in Llanelli at 6.07pm."

Unfortunately the end was not in sight for Mr Parsons after the ambulance crew were told that A and E was full.

"Eventually I was off-loaded at 7.40pm and was surprised to find four empty beds.

"Fortunately I had not suffered a heart attack and was sent home, arriving just before midnight."

Mr Parsons, who served in the RAF for almost forty years, also launched an attack on the state of cleanliness at the hospital.

"I was in A and E long enough to notice hygiene was not on the top of their list."

Mr Parsons also blasted the Labour-run National Assembly's priority of getting votes rather than providing a quality health service.

"I served my country in the RAF for 37 years and now that I need the NHS, it is falling apart.

"This goes all the way from primary care to the top including care for the elderly, most of whom have worked all their lives paying into national insurance which they thought would take care of them when they needed it."

Keith Jones, general manager of critical care at Carmarthenshire NHS Trust, said: "Along with many hospitals across South Wales, Carmarthenshire NHS Trust has continued to receive high numbers of patients requiring emergency medical care in recent weeks and this has been further aggravated recently due to a significant incidence of patients presenting symptoms of acute sickness.

"As we adhere to stringent infection control procedures within the Trust, this has placed severe pressure on available inpatient bed capacity at both Prince Philip Hospital and West Wales General Hospital and has in turn affected our A and E departments.

"During this difficult period, the Trust has worked and continues to work extremely hard to balance emergency medical demand. Unfortunately, there have been some occasions when we have been unable to receive patients from ambulances as quickly as we would have hoped."