A SURVEY of people in the South Lakeland conducted by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has found that around one in 10 people who responded have waited more than an hour for an ambulance during the last three years.

Out of the 233 people who said they had dialled 999, 23 said they had to wait more than an hour for an ambulance to arrive, with three of those saying they had to cancel the call-out as the wait was too long.

“What the results of my survey show, on top of anecdotal evidence of people writing to me, is that our local ambulances having to take people to Barrow and Lancaster instead of Kendal means that people in parts of the South Lakes who have an emergency will have to wait far too long for help," said Mr Farron. “Having secured an Urgent Treatment Centre at Westmorland General Hospital there is now scope for more people to be able to be seen closer to home – I’ll help our local hospitals trust in any way that I can to make this happen.”