A 70-year-old man died after waiting “in the most excruciating pain” after waiting 70 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
On November 1, the man suffered from a suspected heart attack, prompting his daughter to ring 999. She told PA news agency her father might have survived had help arrived earlier.
London Ambulance Service (LAS) is investigating their response to the incident, which took 50 minutes longer than the target average for suspected heart attacks.
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The man’s daughter, who wished not to be identified, said she gave CPR to her father for 10 minutes after he stopped breathing.
Ambulances in England aim to respond to burns, epilepsy and strokes within an average window of 18 minutes.
The ambulance arrived more than an hour after the call
90 per cent of such calls should be responded to within 40 minutes, according to emergency targets.
The man’s other daughter, who also did not wish to be identified, said: “Had they arrived earlier within the right timescales he would not only have had the most important medical attention and treatment a lot earlier, but he also wouldn’t have been in pain for so long and not so scared as he’d have known he was getting medical help”.
The man himself made the initial 999 call while informing his daughters of his condition. One of them arrived shortly after.
Several further emergency phone calls were made by the daughters while one of them gave her father CPR.
An ambulance arrives roughly 69 minutes after the first call.
His daughter said: “The emotional trauma of witnessing this and desperately trying to save his life, knowing he was seriously let down, is overwhelming.
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“His last words to [the other daughter] was that ‘this is the most excruciating pain I’ve ever had’ and she now has to live with that.
“Nothing will bring him back but we will do all we can to make sure no one else loses their life unnecessarily and no one else goes through this trauma.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the patient’s family and friends during this difficult time and we send them our deepest condolences.
“We are looking into how we responded to the patient and would encourage the family to reach out to our patient experiences team so we can support them in reviewing what happened.”
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