According to MailOnline, a 73-year-old competitor on a TV quiz show passed away after waiting more than four hours for an ambulance to come after collapsing in his garden.
In Stourbridge, West Midlands, David Patrick, a grandfather and seasoned contestant on numerous TV quiz shows, fell to the ground as he was returning to his home from his shed.
However, when his 71-year-old wife Patricia called 999, she was informed that there was a six-hour wait period and there were no medics on duty.
Instead, Mr. Patrick, who has made appearances on TV quiz shows like Fifteen to One and The Weakest Link, was made to lie flat on his patio as his distraught wife attempted to keep him warm while they waited for assistance.
However, by the time an ambulance eventually arrived at Mr. Patrick’s house on Tuesday night at 9.30 p.m., he had started to lose consciousness and was in cardiac arrest.
Although the ambulance team tried to revive him, he was declared dead a few hours later in the hospital.
He had cardiac issues, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and had his foot amputated eight years ago; nevertheless, the exact cause of death is still unknown.
His family has received an apology from West Midlands Ambulance Service, which also noted that prolonged hospital delays cause patients to wait longer for ambulances to arrive.
Mr. Patrick’s passing comes amid grim warnings that the shortage of resources in the area is likely to have a “Titanic moment,” forcing paramedics to stop responding to emergency calls in less than a month.
Patricia, 71, the grieving widow of Mr. Patrick, said today: “Something must be done promptly; people cannot be compelled to wait more than four hours for assistance.”
I initially assumed the operator had misheard when she informed me how long we would have to wait since I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Not even a bustling Saturday night existed.
“My husband was a weak man who need immediate medical attention.
“He didn’t deserve to have to wait outside in the chilly darkness of the evening.
If my husband’s passing has any benefit, it’s to ensure that an incident like this never occurs again.
Massive delays and extreme strain on the NHS are having a fatal effect on patients. Way situation can’t go on like this.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Patrick was mucking around in his garden shed while listening to music, but at around 5.20 p.m., when he started to walk back to the house, he passed out.
Five minutes later, his wife called an ambulance, but after learning there would be a long wait, she started making him as comfortable as she could on the patio.
She claimed that before he started to lose consciousness, her husband started to complain of pain in both of his legs.
Around 9.10 p.m., Mrs. Patrick called 999 once more when he seemed to cease breathing, and a neighbour who had also seen what was happening called the paramedics and police to report the event.
Just before 9.30 p.m., an ambulance eventually arrived at the couple’s end-terrace home.
Mr. Patrick passed away just after midnight on Wednesday at the neighbouring Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.
David had a hut outside where he would listen to his CDs and then log them all on a computer he kept there, according to Mrs. Patrick.
There are two stairs between us and the kitchen entrance, so he typically waited for my son to arrive and help him inside before going.
But David fell yesterday while my son was shutting up the shed.
He went down as I was in the kitchen watching.
He had trouble walking because he only had one foot after having one amputated due to diabetes.
He claimed to be in a lot of pain in his hip, so at first, we believed he had broken it.
‘Later on, though, he said that both of his legs hurt.
“I was waiting outside with him, and as the weather grew chillier, I went and took the quilt from his bed in the living room and covered him with it and a pillow.”
I wrapped his shoulders in his jacket to protect him from the cold.
“Three and a half hours later, he began to lose consciousness and stop breathing.
I made another call at that time.
The husband of my next-door neighbour also contacted 999 and the police to report what was happening because he thought it was wrong that a 73-year-old guy was left laying in the garden for such a long time.
“I must say that the paramedics were absolutely fantastic when they did come and tried everything they could to save David, but they shouldn’t have been put in a position where they had to keep someone waiting for more than four hours.”
When he appeared on Challenge TV’s Stake Out in November 2001, Mr. Patrick’s last appearance on television was.
He loved quizzes, and he was on a pub quiz team, his wife continued.
Over the years, he has appeared on Fifteen to One and The Weakest Link pretty frequently.
He had also won a sizable sum of money.
His passion was for tests.
According to the West Midlands Ambulance Service, the first of three calls regarding Mr. Patrick was recorded as a fall.
They stepped up their response as his health got worse.
A spokesman issued a statement in which he expressed regret to the patient’s family for the length of time it took to reach them.
Within four and a half minutes of that call’s receipt and 15 minutes after the second call, an ambulance came in response to new information that the patient’s health had significantly worsened.
“The entire NHS is still under tremendous strain, and regrettably, lengthy hospital handover delays mean that some patients are waiting far longer than we would want for an ambulance to arrive to them.”
Mark Docherty, the director of nursing for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, identified August 17 as the potential collapse date in a May speech.
He voiced his anger that NHS England and the Care Quality Commission are “not all over” the problem and warned that patients are “dying every day” from preventable reasons brought on by ambulance delays.
Mr. Docherty claimed in an interview with the Health Service Journal (HSJ) that more patients were spending up to 24 hours in the back of ambulances before being taken to hospitals and that dangerous events have increased in the last year, partly as a result of lengthy delays.
The day I believe everything will fail is around August 17, he remarked.
You may wonder how I can be so particular, but on that date, a third of our resources will be wasted due to delays, making it impossible for us to reply.
It will be like a Titanic moment mathematically.
By that time, it will be mathematically certain that this structure is sinking and will have essentially passed the tipping point.