A man has been left devastated after his wife sadly died after waiting 16 hours for an ambulance to arrive.
Teresa Simpson, 54, had fallen ill at her home in Hull, UK, while suffering from diabetes and a muscle-wasting disease, and her husband, Matthew, called for help.
As reported by Sky News, an emergency lifeline cord was pulled after Teresa became confused, and the couple was put through to an ambulance crew on the phone.
However, the emergency services would not arrive at the property for another 16 hours, when Matthew dialed the emergency number again after his wife appeared "lifeless."
Speaking to Sky News he said: "Sixteen hours and 45 minutes I had to wait and they only came because I had to ring them back and say she was lifeless.
"One hundred percent I believe that if they got to my wife in six hours she would still be here now because she would have got help."
Matthew went on to explain that he is still understandably very angry with the emergency response that his wife received on the day of her tragic passing.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Matthew said: "They said they would send an ambulance but said they couldn't give me a time limit because they were extremely busy.
"She was still communicating with me, so if they came out within a six-hour time limit they would have realized her sugar level had dropped, they would have taken her in and she would have been in the hospital getting medical attention.
"If she had a heart attack, she would have been on a heart monitor and seen to straight away."
Matthew said he made an official complaint to the ambulance service after he lost his wife, but it will take up to 12 months for it to be investigated.
The Yorkshire Ambulance Service offered this response, via Sky News: "Our patient relations team has received correspondence from him raising concerns about our response to this incident. They will liaise directly with Mr. Simpson about specific details relating to this."
This news comes as the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Adrian Boyle made the claim that between 300 and 500 lives are lost each week due to slow response times by emergency services.
The NHS disputes these figures but does acknowledge that the services are being stretched due to staff shortages and industrial action.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told Sky News: "We recognize the pressures the NHS is facing following the impact of the pandemic and are working tirelessly to ensure people get the care they need, backed by up to £14.1bn additional funding for health and social care over the next two years."
Matthew and Teresa were due to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year.
"I've lost my wife, my best friend, and my soulmate," Matthew said.
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