A HEALTH board has been criticised for "shocking" delays after a frail grandmother waited almost five hours for an ambulance then had to endure 12 hours in an overcrowded emergency ward.

Cathy Goldie, 85, from Carntyne, arrived at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary around 3.30am on Tuesday after she became unwell on Monday. She was finally moved at 3.30pm.

The grandmother of 12, who suffers from dementia, had stopped eating and her family became concerned for deteriorating health.

Her daughters Rita and Catherine said the case raises concerns for patient welfare.

Rita, a 59-year-old classroom assistant from Clarkston, said: "We had to phone twice to find out where the ambulance was - we phoned it first at 11pm on Monday.

"We went in to A&E at 3.30am on Tuesday and the place was actually mobbed. There were people who had been waiting for 15 hours in there."

Catherine, 54, from Clarkston, said they had little contact with medical staff and their mother had not been seen by a doctor.

She said: "It's absolutely shocking.

"Even the ambulance driver who came in said he had never seen anything like it, and the charge nurse said she had worked there for 20 years and had never seen it like this before.

"I'm not blaming the staff, it's the whole system.

"There's no beds, nowhere to put all these poor people, it's really worrying."

An NHS spokeswoman said: "This patient arrived at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary accident and emergency department (A&E) at 4.10am having been referred by NHS 24. She was taken direct to the acute assessment unit (AAC) and was very quickly triaged by nursing staff.

"The patient was sent for diagnostic tests and then seen by a consultant in acute medicine at 9am.

"The acute assessment unit is not A&E. It is a dedicated bedded area which is fully staffed and fully equipped to provide assessment and if appropriate patients can remain in the unit overnight."

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: "At 23:03 a doctor requested a non-emergency ambulance transfer for the patient to be taken to hospital within two hours.

"Unfortunately there was exceptional emergency 999 demand in Glasgow on Monday night and the transfer was not undertaken until 3.18am.

"We are sorry for any anxiety and discomfort caused by the delay."