A Belleek pensioner has hit out at the ambulance service which he claims left him stranded at the County Hospital in Omagh after promising him a lift back to Fermanagh,

The SDLP Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tommy Gallagher is demanding a full inquiry into how the situation arose.

The pensioner, who asked not to be named, explained that an ambulance came to his home and brought him to Omagh. He was taken to the Tyrone County Hospital, where the ambulance men told him to contact them when he was ready to go home.

"It was about 4.15 when I had finished my appointment, the nurse rang the ambulance and they said some one would be along in 10 minutes. We waited for a while, nobody had arrived, so we then called again. They said they had been delayed collecting a patient and would be along soon. But after another half-an-hour one still hadn't arrived. When we tried ringing then, there was no answer and I was left stranded."

The pensioner checked the price of a taxi to take him home but was faced with a hefty £45 bill. In the end up he had to call his son to drive from Belleek and collect him. He did not arrive back home until after 7.30pm that evening.

The man has been left very frustrated by the service provided by the ambulance service and as of yet has not been offered any explanation for why this unsatisfactory situation arose.

Tommy Gallagher has hit out at the development.

"I am told this is not the first time, in fact there was a similar incident last week, but that concerned someone who lived much closer to the hospital. It should be a relatively simple task for one shift to hand over important tasks to the next, and one can only presume that is what Ambulance Service managers get paid for.

"This is the standard of care we have in the west today, and that is before we suffer the proposed cutbacks in ambulance cover. Our hospitals have vast catchment areas with some of the worst roads in the north and we should have an appropriate service to cope with these disadvantages.

"Instead, we have an inferior service with every likelihood that it will get worse. The service needs to improve and the management system in NI Ambulance Service needs to improve immediately," Mr Gallagher added.

"I want to see a full inquiry into how a frail patient could be left standing many miles from home in a closed hospital department, and I will take it to ministerial level if necessary."

He has raised the matter with the Health Committee at Stormont, whose members agreed to write to the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service asking him to address the Health Committee about the lack of service being provided in this part of the country.

A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) said they regretted any delay in the provision of transport for patients.

"The Patient Care Service transports approximately 220,000 patients per year. The journey to any appointment is planned in advance but the homeward journey is dependant upon the time that the appointment has been completed.

"For this reason, it can prove difficult to co-ordinate homeward journeys in the same manner. Crews may already be transporting one patient home when another becomes ready and, therefore can only return to the hospital when available."

Speaking specifically about the case involving the Belleek man, the spokesperson said: "It would appear that NIAS was informed that this patient became available for transport home at approximately 4pm. There were two further calls to the Regional Non Emergency Despatch Centre at 4.30 and 5.20 enquiring as to when the ambulance would be available.

"The caller was informed at 5.20 that it may be another hour before a crew would be available as they were all engaged on other calls. A final call was received at 5.38, cancelling the request for transport. The time between NIAS being made aware of the patient being ready and the cancellation of the call was approximately one hour 40mins, and not over five hours as has been suggested to us."

The Ambulance Service have also called for the family of this patient to contact the Trust's Complaint Manager, who will investigate the circumstances and provide a detailed explanation. The Complaints Manager can be contacted at Trust HQ on 028 9040 0999.