A MUM-OF-TWO has been left permanently disabled by a stroke after waiting nearly two hours for an ambulance.
"We're supposed to act fast, and we got nothing from the emergency services," her partner, Rob Christensen, 63, said.
"For the first time, I felt helpless, really helpless."
Susan Harding, 57, suffered the stroke on December 12, 2024, after returning home from Christmas shopping and has been in hospital ever since.
"She had gone to the toilet, but five minutes later, she still hadn't come out, and then I heard a thump against the bathroom door," Rob, a retired project liaison consultant, explained.
"I found Susan collapsed on the floor."
Rob, who lives in Wiltshire with Susan, recognised the signs - her face had dropped on one side and her speech was slurred -and immediately dialled 999.
But it took one hour and 59 minutes from that first call for an ambulance to arrive, far above the 30-minute average response time for category 2 emergencies.
He said: "At 16:59, I called it in, and they asked lots of questions — I told them she was having a stroke. I also called her eldest son, and he made his way over.
"When he arrived, I phoned the ambulance to chase up — about 50 minutes after the initial call — and we had to go through all the same questions again. I couldn't believe the ineptitude.
"We're pacing around, wondering what to do. Do we take her ourselves or wait?
"By 18:30, it still hadn't turned up, so I called up again, and they went through the questions again.
"I was gobsmacked at the indifference.
"At 18:50, an emergency responder in a car turned up, and then the ambulance finally turned up almost two hours later at 18:58.
"It was 19:20 before she was finally taken to hospital — by then, the damage was done."
Susan was taken 14.5 miles to the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH Bath).
The ambulance service has cited high demand but given no specific reason for the delay.
She was put into an induced coma for transfer to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she underwent surgery to relieve bleeding on her brain. She remained in a coma for nearly four weeks.
Doctors told Rob that she would likely never regain the use of the left side of her body and would need care for the rest of her life.
In January, she was moved back to RUH Bath and then on to a local hospital in Chippenham in March to begin rehabilitation.
Rob said: "It can take up to 24 months to rehab, but she will need constant physio, and once she's sent home, they can't guarantee what treatment she'll get, if any.
“I'm going to be caring for someone that basically isn't there - she can't remember things that happened 15 minutes ago.
"It's affected her reading and depth of field, and she can't stand on her own.
"When I'm not there, she gets anxious.
"It's horrible, and it makes me angry - it feels like our lives have come to an end."
Rob later contacted his MP and received a reply from the Minister of Health.
He said: "Either it's important to act FAST, or it's not. If it is, why the hell didn't the ambulance didn't turn up within 18 minutes?
"We've all seen the act FAST campaigns on TV — I did act fast and it's such a disappointment when it doesn't happen in reality.
"It's a lie.
"This is 6.5x times the amount of time we should have waited.
"You expect better — we've been gravely let down, and you expect some tangible response and not something talking about statistics."
The FAST method – which stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time – is the easiest way to remember the most common symptoms of stroke:
F = Face drooping - if one side of a person's face is dropped or numb then ask them to smile, if it's uneven then you should seek help.
A = Arm weakness - if one arm is weak or numb then you should ask the person to raise both arms. If one arm drifts downwards then you might need to get help
S = Speech difficulty - if a person's speech is slurred then this could be a sign of a stroke
T = Time to call 999 - if a person has the signs above then you need to call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for emergency care.
Other symptoms include:
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: "We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Ms Harding for the delay in our response. The delay was unacceptable and falls below the high standards of care we aim to provide.
"Delays in our care is not something we want any of our patients to experience, and when a delay does occur, it's taken very seriously.
"At the time of Ms Harding becoming unwell in December 2024, our service was under extreme pressure, and our response time was impacted by this.
"This demand was further compounded by hospital handover delays and system pressures within the wider NHS and social care.
"We continue to work incredibly hard with our partners in the NHS and social care, to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive."
Doctors have since confirmed Susan suffered a haemorrhagic stroke — a bleed on the brain — and lost the use of the left side of her body.
Rob is now campaigning for real-time reporting of ambulance response times, better triage systems to avoid repeated questioning, and a clear improvement plan the public can track.
He said: "If the ambulance had been sitting outside our house with the engine running, she still would have had that stroke, but all that extra bleeding and pressure on her brain, a lot of that wouldn't have happened and she's now going to be permanently disabled for the rest of her life.
"It's like a bereavement because she's not all there.
"It's horrible, and it makes me angry - it's changed our lives."
You should call 999 in life-threatening emergencies.
For adults, this includes:
For children, this includes:
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