Mrs Jones waited two hours for a bed at Glan Clwyd Hospital

Elizabeth Jones was taken to Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan on Tuesday afternoon but was forced to wait as the accident and emergency department was full.

A hospital spokesman said they would be looking at their procedures to see if they could make any improvements, but admitted that Mrs Jones' situation was not unprecedented.

There have also been problems elsewhere in Wales.

At the beginning of November, Wales' biggest hospital, the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff left patients waiting in ambulances outside the accident and emergency department because of a shortage of space inside.

At the time, a spokeswoman said only a small number of patients with minor injuries were delayed and no-one was treated inside an ambulance.

On Friday evening, the Welsh Assembly Goverment (WAG) responded to Mrs Jones' case, and the other problems.

A statement released by WAG said it monitored all emergency pressures and was now planning to hold a summit with all interested parties.

This would discuss the "range of measures already in place to deal with the pressures...over the winter, and to ensure that planning is fully in place throughout the service."

This may be of scant comfort to Mrs Jones' family.

They claim she was shaking uncontrollably immediately after the stroke and that she complained of the cold while in the ambulance.

"I would've taken her in a wheelchair if I'd known," said her grand-daughter Mandy.

"They wouldn't have left her in a wheelchair outside but they did in an ambulance," she added.

The pensioner's daughter Jan Castle said she kept going into the hospital to ask for information.

"I said, 'What does it take, Are you waiting for my mum to pop her clogs?'", she added.

Glan Clwyd's Executive Director of Operations Ian Bellingham said staff decided Mrs Jones would receive better attention in the ambulance rather than waiting on a trolley in the hospital corridor.

"We obviously don't like things like this happening but it happens in all hospitals from time to time," he said.

'Never in danger'

Mr Bellingham admitted Mrs Jones' situation was not unprecedented.

But, he said, her condition was continually assessed by paramedics and a nurse practitioner from the hospital, and that the pensioner's life was never in danger.

Glan Clwyd Hospital has offered to speak to Mrs Jones' family to discuss the situation further.

On Friday, Mrs Jones was said to be comfortable and stable.