A woman has spoken out about her final interaction with her husband after he suffered a heart attack and had a nearly two-hour wait for an ambulance.
Michael Wright, 33 from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in the UK suffered a heart attack while alone in the family home and called for the emergency services after suffering severe chest pains and vomiting, per the Express.
The former landscape gardener then waited one hour and 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, during which time his condition deteriorated.
Michael was then transported to the hospital where it was confirmed that he had suffered a heart attack, but unfortunately passed away that evening, which his wife believes was "avoidable."
"It definitely would have been avoided if the ambulance had arrived sooner," 31-year-old Vicki told the Express. "This death was avoidable."
Vicki expressed her anger at her husband's tragic passing and revealed that he had no known health problems so this incident was a shock.
"I know there is a strain on the NHS at the moment but it is not good enough to leave him that long. They could have told him to jump in a taxi because to take nearly two hours is not on," she continued.
"I was out at the time but after he'd called for an ambulance, he called me to tell me he had this awful pain in his chest. He vomited while he was on the phone to me. He said he was becoming scared."
When Vicki arrived at the hospital, medical staff were still working to revive her husband, but she was informed that he had passed away.
A spokesperson for East of England Ambulance Service said: "We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Wright’s family and loved ones.
"At the time of the call we were experiencing high levels of demand and our ability to respond to patients was significantly affected by handover delays at hospitals.
"We are working hard to meet demand on our services by recruiting additional clinical staff, hiring more call handlers, and working closely with local hospitals to reduce handover delays so we can reach patients more quickly."
The National Health Service (NHS) is under significant strain with medical staff unable to cope with demand with the resources that are available.
Ambulance workers have taken industrial action in a bid for their salary to match the cost of living crisis, but also to protest the way in which the NHS is being treated as they are unable to give the quality of care to their patients as they would like.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at a press conference in Darlington, via Sky News: "We have the plans in place, we've got the money in place, we just need to work [...] to deliver it now."
The Prime Minister insisted that the plan is to "work toward" pre-pandemic waiting times "after next year" but the current target is a 30-minute wait time.
Michael's tragic death was not caused by strike action, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.
