Ed Davey raises deadly ambulance delays at PMQs
EMBARGO: Immediate Release
In today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey raised a heartbreaking case of deadly ambulance delays.
Ed Davey spoke about an elderly woman Jean, who dialled 999 only to be told it would be an eight hour wait for an ambulance to arrive. Jean was forced to drive herself to Eastbourne District General Hospital, where she collapsed in A&E and died an hour later.
The Liberal Democrat Leader asked the Prime Minister to apologise to Jean’s family and all those who have lost loved ones amid a crisis in ambulance services in the South East and across the country.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
“This heart-breaking case shows the devastating consequences of ambulance delays on patients and their families. My thoughts are with Jean’s family and friends.
“Years of neglect and underinvestment are stretching our local health services to breaking point, but Conservative ministers just don’t seem to get it.
“The Prime Minister should visit Eastbourne General Hospital A&E department to see for himself the true extent of this ambulance crisis. He also owes an apology to every family who has lost a loved one as a result of these dangerous waiting times.
“Today’s response from Rishi Sunak was simply not good enough.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
The full question and answer can be viewed here.
Ed Davey’s full question at PMQs:
Mr Speaker,
When Jean rang 999, she was told it would take at least eight hours for an ambulance to arrive.
So she got in her car and drove herself to Eastbourne District General Hospital.
She paid for parking, and made it to the entrance to A and E – where she collapsed.
Jean died an hour later.
Mr Speaker,
No one should lose their mother or their grandmother like that.
So will the Prime Minister apologise to Jean’s family, and all those who have lost loved ones to this Government’s appalling ambulance delays?
