'There will not be an NHS next year': Distraught paramedic's stark warning more people die because of 999 problems

11 January 2023, 19:06 | Updated: 11 January 2023, 19:08

There will not be an NHS this time next year, a distraught paramedic has told LBC as she recounted the awful moments she believes show how hard-hit the health service is.

"Sarah", who has worked on a fast response unit for 20 years, said more people are dying before they can get to hospital for treatment.

She said her colleagues had seen a family drive their father to hospital themselves and he died in the back of the car after they rang 999 but nobody turned up.

Sarah – which is not her real name – said she went on a call to a woman with a breathing difficulty but they did not manage to arrive as early as they wanted and they found she had died alone in her home.

The medic warned the problem is "absolutely getting worse" and she wants the ambulance strikes to show the public they are not getting the service they deserve from emergency care.

And in a stark warning, she said: "We don't think there will be an NHS this time next year if things stay as they are."

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She told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr: "Just before Christmas a colleague of mine was outside the A&E department and a family drove up in their own car and they had their dad in the back and he'd passed away on the way to hospital.

"They called 999 several times, and unfortunately we haven't been able to respond to them.

"So they've done what they thought was the only thing they could do. Understandably they put their dad in the back of a car and he passed away on the way to hospital, so when they got there there was a lot of commotion.

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"My colleagues went and helped... and tried to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful."

Sarah insisted paramedics are not getting to people in time, and was worried about stroke patients and heart attack victims.

She said: "Just last week, I went to a lady, she lived on her own and she called with a breathing problem. Unfortunately we didn't get there… ultimately we had to break the door down and we found her dead and there was nothing we could do.

"We couldn't resuscitate her because she had been dead for too long.

"I don't know if the outcome would have been different if we had been there quicker but we should have been there quicker and she deserved us to be there quicker."

The medic also said she had gone to a woman who had to lie with a broken hip for 10 hours waiting for responders to turn up.

"We just haven't given her the service she deserves and ultimately that's why we're striking at the moment. It's not just about pay… the public deserve better and we're failing them at the moment," Sarah said.

Thousands of ambulance workers with the Unison or GMB unions walked out on Wednesday.

They say their pay and conditions need improving but it has led to fears about coverage while they walk out.

NHS England said some patients may need to make their own way to hospital.

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said it was "unwelcome" given the health service is tackling flu and Covid.