‘Lovely’ dad, 58, died after family phoned three times for ambulance on Xmas Eve

04 January 2023 , 21:36

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Iqbal with his daughters Sana (left) and Minnie

A caring dad died waiting for an ambulance after three 999 calls, his daughter revealed.

As Rishi Sunak admitted “patients aren’t getting the care they deserve”, Minnie Rahman said dad Iqbal, 58, felt “nobody was coming to help him” as he deteriorated on Christmas Eve.

Minnie, 34, refused to blame NHS staff, saying: “The Government created this situation.”

Calling 999 for an ambulance can no longer be relied upon to save the life of a loved one, a grieving family has told the Mirror.

Caring husband, father and grandfather Iqbal Rahman died aged 58 on Christmas Eve after falling seriously ill – despite three such calls amid the worst ever crisis to hit the NHS.

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Daughter Minnie said: “My dad felt in his final hours that nobody was coming to help him, it’s really difficult for me and my family to live with.”

But Minnie does not hold the ambulance service or NHS responsible – instead she blames years of Government underfunding.

Iqbal with his daughters when they were kids

As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted “patients aren’t receiving the care they deserve”, Minnie said: “The Government has created a situation in which it is impossible for healthcare professionals to provide the care they are trained to give.”

And as Mr Sunak claimed the Government is taking “urgent action” to tackle “challenges in A&E”, Minnie blasted: “It is clearly not enough.

“At this point the Tories cannot be trusted. For 13 years they’ve underfunded and privatised the NHS, leaving it in this disastrous state.

“They’re too far late for the many of us grieving loved ones who didn’t get help when we needed it.

Minnie with Sana and her dad. This is the last photo they took together before he died

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his speech (PA)

“I don’t think any of my family ever thought that if you call the ambulance they won’t come when it’s that bad. And it was that bad – Dad died. My mum is just devastated”

On a Christmas Eve of chaos, West Midlands Ambulance Service received its first call from Iqbal’s family at 7.07pm.

Iqbal was triaged as a category 5 case, requiring a callback with advice from a paramedic or nurse.

A long queue of patients line a corridor at Aintree Hospital (Liverpool echo)

His family could not lift him into a car to take him to hospital and 40 minutes later, as Iqbal’s condition deteriorated, they called 999 again.

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This time he was triaged as category 2 and an ambulance was dis-patched – then diverted to a higher priority call. When Iqbal stopped breathing the family rang a third time at 8.04pm. Guidelines state an ambulance should arrive within an about seven minutes after this. It arrived at 8.28pm.

Ambulances queue up outside of A&E as Morriston Hospital in Swansea, Wales, remains under extreme pressure (Kara Thomas/Athena Pictures)

Paramedics worked on Iqbal for over 90 minutes with no success.

A WMAS spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise to the Rahman family for the delayed response and offer our condolences. At the time of the call, the Trust was experiencing long hospital handover delays.”

A patient is wheeled into an ambulance outside the Royal London hospital in east London (AFP via Getty Images)

Iqbal was due to spend Christmas at an Airbnb in Hereford with Minnie’s mum Samina, 58, her sister Sana, 36, and Sana’s children. When he arrived, Iqbal was already feeling poorly.

His wife Samina, a speech therapist for the NHS, believed her husband of 38 years was suffering heart problems.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay (Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)

Minnie, a consultant, said: “He was complaining of extreme shoulder pain, had a very high temperature and was excessively sweating. It was first advised that it could be due to his diabetes. It wasn’t until his breathing stopped that paramedics were sent.”

Iqbal, who worked in smart energy, had spent four years living in Manchester, and was due to move back in the family home in Birmingham.

Ambulances waiting outside Portsmouth Hospital (SplashNews.com)

Minnie, 34, said: “He was extremely caring and funny, quite silly. It should not have been my dad who died in this way and it shouldn’t be anybody else’s.”

Minnie said her father’s death was also “heartbreaking” for paramedics: “They should be getting to people at a stage where they can help. How many families will be traumatised before the Government does what it has to do and funds the NHS properly?”

Natasha Wynarczyk