A LYDNEY man – who has a serious heart condition – fears ‘somebody is going to die’ if there isn’t a shake-up in the way ambulance services work after he had a two-hour wait.

Roy Jennings was treated for a suspected heart attack at his home in the early hours of the morning after experiencing chest pains and a high blood pressure.

The 69-year-old, who had a heart valve replacement in June, called 999 at 11.05pm and within five minutes a fire crew arrived and stayed until a first response paramedic arrived from Gloucester.

An ambulance was called but it came from Almondsbury, in Bristol, and did not arrive until 12.50am.

He said: “I had been monitoring my blood pressure throughout the evening with a device and knew I needed help when my reading said 201/101. I called 999 and informed them of my medical history and current condition. The staff were fantastic.

“My main concern is that if the ambulance services don’t have a backup supply of vehicles it could mean life or death for somebody – there needs to be a shake-up.

“The emergency crews were amazing and I have nothing but admiration for them, but I do worry government cutbacks are putting lives at risk as the ambulance services are overstretched and are naturally struggling to facilitate patients. I worry somebody is going to die.

“Although the first response paramedic treated me he couldn’t transport me to hospital for the further medical treatment I needed.”

A spokesperson from South Western Ambulance Service said: “South Western Ambulance Service received a call to a male patient suffering from upper chest pain in Lydney, at 23.09pm on September 28. A rapid response vehicle was on scene at 23.22pm and treatment was provided until an ambulance was available to transport the patient to Gloucester Royal Hospital for further assessment.

 

“Due to a large number of high priority calls at the time, the ambulance was delayed in getting to the patient. The trust strives to provide every patient with excellent care alongside a timely response and on this occasion unfortunately we were delayed arriving at the scene. We would like to apologise to the patient and his family for this delay.”