When my partner Susan collapsed at home, I called 999 straight away at 16:59. She was showing signs of a stroke – slurred speech, weakness, struggling to stay conscious. But it took almost two hours for an ambulance to arrive. In that time, I called emergency services three times, repeating the same urgent information over and over. We were desperate, scared, and running out of time. The ambulance didn’t arrive until 18:58, and it was 19:20 before she was finally taken to hospital. By then, the damage was done.

A Life Changed Forever

Susan is still in hospital now – more than three months later. She’s in constant pain. She’s unable to use her left arm or leg and has been told she’s unlikely to ever regain use of her left side. She can’t walk, stand, or even use the toilet without help. She’s forced to wear incontinence pads and relies on carers to wash and move her. She’s on pureed food and has to have her drinks thickened to avoid choking. The stroke damaged the visual pathways in her brain, affecting her ability to read and causing visual field loss. She shows signs of visual neglect – unable to register or respond to one side of her environment – and she can’t use her mobile phone. Her short-term memory is severely impaired. She forgets what day or month it is, whether she’s eaten, or what’s just been said to her. Emotionally, she is fragile and overwhelmed, sometimes brought to tears by the smallest thing.

All of this could have been very different if she had received urgent care when she needed it.

What Went Wrong?

We are told to "Act FAST" in the event of a stroke, but what’s the point of acting fast when the ambulance doesn’t? Emergency services failed Susan in the most critical moment of her life. She needed urgent medical help. Instead, she waited nearly two hours. The delays were made worse by communication failures when every time I called back, I had to repeat everything from the beginning. There was no joined-up system, no sense of urgency, and no adequate response.

An Insulting Response

After raising our concerns, we received a letter from the Secretary of State for Health. It made no mention of Susan, her case, or what went wrong. It offered only vague statistics and long-term targets. No apology. No investigation. No accountability. Just a generic reply while Susan lies in a hospital bed, facing lifelong disability.

What We’re Insisting Needs to Change

This can’t happen to anyone else. We are calling for:

• An urgent investigation into Susan’s case and others like it.
• Real-time reporting of ambulance response times by region.
• A complete overhaul of call-handling and triage systems to avoid repeated delays.
• A clear, time-bound plan for improvements that the public can track.

Please Sign the Petition

Please sign this petition to demand answers, accountability, and action. No one should have to wait two hours for an ambulance during a life-threatening emergency. Susan acted fast. We did everything we were supposed to. The system failed her. Sign now to help stop this from happening to anyone else.