“There were 24 ambulances queuing up”

“We were down at our house in Cornwall, supposed to be taking care of the grandkids, and I got a pain like indigestion, which just got worse and worse throughout the day.

By the evening, I knew it wasn’t indigestion, so my wife called an ambulance.

My son-in-law was going to take me to hospital, but he said the last thing he wanted was for his father-in-law to keel over in the back of the car.

So, we waited for the ambulance. It eventually turned up the next morning.

Then when I got to the hospital I couldn’t get into A&E. I reckon there were 24 ambulances queuing up. I stayed in the ambulance for hours. 

I waited around 18 hours in total to get into A&E.

While I was in the ambulance, a doctor came out to see me to do a blood test.

He came back later and said: ‘It’s not good news, you’ve had a heart attack’..

The ambulance guy was very reassuring, he said he had all the medical kit in the vehicle.

And once I got into hospital everyone was very, very good. But when I heard someone say I’d missed the ‘golden hour’ for heart attack care, I felt quite angry.

I wrote to the ambulance service after all this happened in April 2022, just to make sure my long wait was logged in writing. They were apologetic.

There’s nothing anyone can do about my long wait now. It is what it is.

But I don’t want anyone else to have to wait that long and possibly miss out on the best available treatment, which is why I’m supporting British Heart Foundation's 'Heart's need more' campaign.”

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