Sir – The problems of patients being kept in ambulances outside of accident and emergency at the JR (A and E) in an attempt to avoid exceeding waiting time targets is not a new one.

And it has ripple effects because people needing ambulance services have to wait considerable time for these.

Some two-and-a-half years ago, I was hit by a cyclist when I was walking across Magdalen Street in Oxford.

My hip was broken by the impact. This occurred early on a Monday evening which should not have been a busy time for ambulances, but the Oxford ambulances were all tied up sitting with patients outside of A and E so I waited more than 10 minutes for a paramedic to arrive and then it was another 25 minutes before an ambulance called from Adderbury was able to reach me.

During much of that time I was stood up supported by a young couple who had been enlisted to pick me up out of the street and get me up on to the pavement.

It was not an experience I would like anyone to have to go through. Ambulances should be used for their designated purposes and not as portable beds so that waiting time targets will not be exceeded.

Tamara Frishberg, Oxford