British husband bereft as wife dies waiting ambulance for over 16 hours

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - A woman in the UK died after more than 16 hours of waiting for an ambulance to arrive at the scene, her grieving husband said on Tuesday.

Suffering from diabetes and a muscle-wasting disease, 54-year-old Teresa Simpson, died at Hull Royal Infirmary in November after a heart attack lack of oxygen to the brain.

She was among hundreds at the time who died amid widespread delays in emergency care.

Husband Matthew Simpson recounted that after he called the 999 emergency lifeline for his wife, health services "only arrived" following a second call he made to say his wife appeared "lifeless."

"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," Matthew told British broadcaster Sky News in an interview.

"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."

- 'It wasn't like this 20 or 30 years ago'

Matthew said that the public should be aware of stories like his as they showed that Britain’s healthcare system was in crisis and worse state than it was decades earlier.

"People shouldn't be dying. No way. 16 hours, 22 hours, all these stories you hear of people waiting for ambulances. It is wrong," he said. "It wasn't like this 20 or 30 years ago."

Noting that the couple was set to celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, he said: "We both knew we were on borrowed time because of her myotonic dystrophy. But there is no way she should've been left to die the way she did."

Health services in the UK have been spread increasingly thin amid ongoing strikes by healthcare workers and an alarming spike in flu cases.

Officials of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine had earlier told BBC that an estimated 300 to 500 more people are dying each week due to delays in emergency care.