"Long wait for an ambulance"

Myself and my family were are church on Saturday at 4pm. Ten minutes into the service my dad became unwell. Myself  and my sister assisted him from his seat to the back of the church to sit down but he collapsed before we got him into the chair. He came round after a short time and didn’t know where he was. He then looked like he was taking some sort of seizure and his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he blacked out.

My sister in law who was also in attendance and is a nurse of 30 + years assisted him with myself into the recovery position where his breathing became shallower. My sister in law said to call an ambulance right away. She then gave him a sternum rub to help with breathing. I ran outdoors to call an ambulance and after waiting a few minutes was connected and told that an ambulance would be in attendance in about 10- 21 minutes. I said my dad needed to be blue lighted as I was concerned due to him having a previous TIA. and was told an ambulance would be sent.

I went back to check on dad and he seemed to come round a bit but was an awful colour and was incontinent. We got him onto a wheelchair and he was very shaken. We kept him cool and was gave him water as he went clammy. After 25 minutes there was still no ambulance so I called back.

I told them of the previous call and was told there was a high volume of 999 calls in the area. I voiced my concern that my dad needed an ambulance and was told it could be up to 25 minutes wait and there was nothing else but just to wait. My dad was taken outside to wait but he was frozen and we didn’t want him sitting in the cold. My sister said to take him home and call to say we had taken him home. My sister took him home and I waited outside the church to wait to see if the ambulance would come. Paramedics turned up a few minutes later and I explained in total we were waiting 45 minutes.

The paramedic couldn’t apologise enough and said the call was coded wrong and we shouldn’t have waited that long. To me this was a life and death situation my dad was in and can only be thankful that my sister in law was there. She said my dad was minutes away from going into cardiac arrest. I have every faith in this service as myself and my sisters all work with the NHS but in this situation this is not good enough and I am so angry that this could have been fatal for my dad. I only lost my father in law last week and this would have added to the tragedy. 

Thankfully he did not have another TIA but if it had been the case he might not have survived. 

I can only thank the paramedics who did attend and were fantastic with my dad. 

I would be grateful for a response please.

Regards