Max had eaten a small amount of diluted peanut butter for the first time and started having a severe reaction to it within minutes.

It was the afternoon of December 30, 2021 and she needed the paramedics there straight away. Her son was having trouble breathing and her partner Reece was trying to keep him on his side and make sure he wasn't choking, on the advice of the NSW Ambulance call taker.

She said it took almost 40 minutes for the paramedics to arrive at their home in Thornton.

NSW Ambulance told The Mercury it was a mild reaction and an ambulance was there in less than 30 minutes, but Ms Anderton's GP read the hospital notes and said it was a severe reaction.

"It wasn't treated as an emergency, I was there, I know how long it took. We counted it because every minute that went by I was holding my breath," she said.

"He reacted pretty quickly. He couldn't breathe and he was panicking and I was freaking out.

"We didn't have an epipen. I was scared that he was going to die."

A growing number of Maitland people say they have called an ambulance and it has taken too long to arrive.

A Maitland father, who asked for his name to be withheld, said his 14-year-old son had been mucking around on his bed when he fell back into a window in the evening on March 11 and cut his forearm in two places on a jagged piece of glass.

When he saw his son with blood pouring out of his arm he called Triple Zero while his wife applied pressure with a towel.

The NSW Ambulance call taker told him it would take an hour for the ambulance

to arrive and explained how they should treat the wound.

"We were hysterical when we were told it was going to take an hour, there were a few excuses but we didn't have time to listen to the excuses, we just said we have to go and hung up. We had him at the hospital in about seven minutes," he said.

"It was like a horror film, there was blood everywhere. I was worried about the arteries - he filled a bath sheet with blood on the way to the hospital.

"Not even the paramedics that go around in the car and make everything comfortable could come quickly.

"I know where the ambulances were - they were stuck at the hospital."

NSW Ambulance said an incorrect arrival time was given and it apologised for the error.

Australian Paramedics Association NSW President Chris Kastelan said the closest available ambulance was allocated to a call for help and when paramedics were stuck at the hospital the closest crew could be one hour's drive away.

"These are really significant cases and paramedics should be there as soon as possible to commence treatment as there can be adverse events from these types of incidents and that has a ripple effect on the family," Mr Kastelan said.

"Some of the calls for a job in Maitland may be coming from Singleton, or Stroud,Tea Gardens or Hamilton or even Toronto and this means people are waiting longer."

The only nursing position in the ambulance drop-off area at the new Maitland Hospital has not been funded since the facility opened in January, forcing staff from other areas to fill the gap and paramedics to wait for hours to hand over their patients, the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association has revealed.

The association says one nurse from another part of the hospital is being pulled away from their usual duties to cover the role of the Transfer of Care Nurse, who takes the patients from the paramedics and hands them over to the Emergency Department.

It says the lack of adequate staff in the drop-off area and in the Emergency Department, combined with high patient demand, is forcing paramedics to wait four to five hours - and sometimes even six - before their patient is taken from them and they can leave to respond to another call for help.

Paramedics told The Mercury the excessive delays were putting unprecedented pressure on them and their response times. They said they could work up to 16 hours - including four hours of overtime - without a break.

"Patients who need intense care shouldn't be on an ambulance stretcher for two to six hours," Mr Kastelan said.

"It's excessive, it's inappropriate and the resourcing model should be better to ensure that patients do receive a high level of care as soon as practicable.

"This is a key position and if that position goes unfunded and unfilled for any period of time of course that is going to exacerbate the problem.

"Paramedics are continuing to care for patients on their stretchers and we are finding patients are wondering why there are such significant delays. Some people can get aggravated and irritated about the lengthy delays."

Hunter New England Health did not say if the transfer of care nursing position had been funded since the hospital moved to Metford, when questioned by The Mercury. It chose not to provide details about this role on the record.

However, it did say that "additional inpatient surge beds are opened in times of increased activity to reduce the transfer of care time from ambulance to the Emergency Department".

The association says there are not enough staff to look after the patients in those surge beds.

NSW Ambulance said it "works closely with local health districts across the state to expedite transfer of care".

A spokesman said COVID-19 had seen an increase in the number of people being transported and had an impact on the transfer of care at the hospital. He added that the influenza outbreak was also causing more demand on the service on top of the normal paramedic workload.

Paramedics told The Mercury they were regularly stuck in the same position, called bed block, when the hospital was in High Street but their wait times were now the worst they had ever experienced.

They said the new hospital's expanded patient catchment area meant more ambulances were now going there instead of the Mater Hospital or John Hunter Hospital.

Paramedics across NSW were involved in industrial action between May 27 and June 1 in a bid to highlight their plight to the state government. They have not ruled out further action.

Mr Kastelan said the association was hoping for a funding boost in the upcoming state budget as well as money for an extra 1500 paramedics.

He said that would bring the state in line with the workforce in Victoria and Queensland, which both have 60 paramedics per 100,000 people. In NSW he said there were about 45 paramedics per 100,000 people.

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