Hull man brings wife's ashes home blaming her death on 16-hour ambulance delay

A man whose wife died after a 16-hour wait for an ambulance says she would still be alive if paramedics had arrived sooner.

Matthew Simpson's 54-year-old wife, Teresa, said he was left helpless as his wife's conditioned deteriorated after they alerted the emergency service when she became ill at their home in Hull.

On Wednesday, 4 January, he brought her ashes home.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: "I believe that the ambulance service killed my wife and she would still be here today if she had got medical help."

Mr Simpson, 47, said emergency services were first alerted to his wife's condition at 3pm on Tuesday, 29 November, when he pulled an emergency cord and spoke to an ambulance crew after she became confused.

He said he was forced to call 999 again when his wife, who had diabetes and a muscle-wasting disease, became "lifeless".

Help did not arrive until 7.45am the following morning.

Mrs Simpson was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary by paramedics but died a few hours later.

"She had breathing machine on, and was on life support and she slowly passed away," he said. "I was holding her hands and kissing her and stroking her head and telling her I loved her."

Mr Simpson said opportunities to save her were missed. He said: "My wife was still communicating with me for twelve hours from 3pm to 3am. She was still communicating for those 12 hours before she fell asleep.

"If they'd come out within a six hour time limit they would've checked on her, realised her sugar level had dropped and sorted her out. They would have took her in and she would have been in hospital and seen to straight away."

Mr Simpson said he still has not been given an explanation about why the ambulance was delayed.

He said: "I still don't know to this day why [there was] the delay.

"I just want answers, why did someone decide that my wife's confusion wasn't an emergency? Who makes these decisions? It's wrong."

In the year the couple were supposed to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Mr Simpson said: "I've lost my wife, my best friend and my soulmate."

His comments come as the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has admitted patients are not getting the "care they deserve" as senior doctors have warned that the NHS is under "intolerable pressure".

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with Mr Simpson on the sad loss of his wife Teresa in November 2022, and we offer him our sincere condolences.

“Our Patient Relations Team has received correspondence from Mr Simpson raising concerns about our response to this incident.  They will liaise directly with Mr Simpson about specific details relating to this.”

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