An elderly woman who hurt her hip after a fall in Ipswich town centre on Tuesday, waited outside an hour and sixteen minutes for an ambulance to collect her.

East of England Ambulance arrived within their target time for the type of call it was but onlooker, Julia Smith, was outraged: “The poor woman couldn’t walk to somewhere warm because she was in a lot of pain.

“What a shame for her to have to wait out in the cold for this long. It was freezing outside. I even rang the ambulance again myself to try to hurry them up.

“I felt so sorry for her sitting out there, freezing.

“This was an elderly woman, someone who has paid into the system all her life.”

A spokeswoman for East of England Ambulance said: “We were called to Jacey’s Coffee House in St Stephen’s lane at 2.32pm and we arrived at 3.48pm.

“It was a 111 call and we were called again on 999. For an non-urgent category three call, we arrived in good time.”

The woman was taken to Ipswich hospital and is thought to be in a stable condition.