A diabetic patient with brittle bone disease and his pensioner mother were made to wait three hours for a ride home after an appointment at Kingston Hospital last week.

The incident appears to have been caused by a mix-up between the hospital and the ambulance service, with both NHS organisations blaming each other.

Wheelchair-bound Anthony Peters, 52, from Esher, and his mother Barbra Peters, 74, from Weybridge, said they were ignored for two hours before being told by staff to go to accident and emergency if they wanted to get home.

Mr Peters, who needs insulin regularly, had come in for an x-ray and blood test before waiting for the patient transport service.

Mrs Peters said: “My son has got a lot of things wrong with him and he was so distressed. I needed to get him home but no one was interested. No-one wanted to help. It was disastrous. A waste of time.”

The pair were made to wait on November 6 from 4.15pm to 7.15pm, but when the transport office closed at 6.30pm a worker awkwardly asked the pair to go to accident and emergency for any chance of a free ride.

Mrs Peters, who worked in local government and then as a minicab controller before she retired, said: “We just sat there and sat there. We asked around, everyone just said they were contractors. Nobody wanted to deal with us.

“There were people in offices just sitting down doing nothing. They just turn away from you.”

In September, a Quality Care Commission report completed following a surprise drop-in visit to the Galsworthy Road hospital highlighted its NHS transport serviced as a concern because of the numbers of patients left stranded.

At the time Kate Grimes, the hospital's chief executive, said: “I am confident we can resolve the issues quickly.”

It was announced then that a review of the transport contract was due to be carried out.

A spokeswoman for Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Unfortunately the transport was not provided by Kingston Hospital and we share Mrs Peters and Mr Peters’ frustration.

“At the time our staff made numerous attempts to contact Secam, the transport company who were picking up Mrs Peters and Mr Peters, to find out the reason for the delay but they received no answer or solution.

“Kingston Hospital does not have any control over the contract with Secam. Secam is contracted by Surrey Downs CCG, who booked Mrs Peters and Mr Peters’ transport."

A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear of his and his mother’s experience.

"Unfortunately the delay in transport arriving to take Mr Peters home arose due to his hospital appointment being extended by an hour.

"The ambulance crew originally allocated to take him home arrived at the agreed time but was unable to wait and all of our other patient transport crews were busy transporting other pre-planned patients and carrying out hospital discharges.

"We take any concerns raised about the level of service we provide seriously and will be in touch with Mr Peters directly very soon with a full response to his concerns."

A Surrey Downs CCG spokesman said it was East Surrey CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group), not Surrey Downs, who were responsible for commissioning the service, but said it was not right to say a CCG would have booked Mr Peters' transport.