Hurry up and wait

When it's free, you get what you pay for from Britain's National Health Service:

A nurse suffering a brain haemorrhage died after waiting two hours for an ambulance - even though a paramedic had arrived within three minutes.

Martina Simmons, 36, collapsed in agony after arriving home from a late shift and her husband Shaun phoned NHS Direct for help.

A 'first responder' paramedic who was sent to her home called an ambulance - and kept ringing every 10 minutes.

But a crew did not arrive for more than two hours -15 times longer than the official target time of eight minutes.