Grieving husband slams ambulance as wife left 'convulsing' for hours with stroke
A grieving husband has slammed the four-hour wait for an ambulance while his wife had a stroke on their sofa as “appalling”.
Abbass Koolaji, 63, dialled 999 when Heather, his wife of 43 years, convulsed on the sofa in the shock attack in their home in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. However, he claimed the busy operator seemed insincere when he called and was even made to feel a “nuisance” as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Heather died a month later and Abbass says Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s “appalling service” contributed to her death.
He told Yorkshire Live: “The reason I am raising this issue and going through this is because I don’t want anyone else to go through the pain and anguish we experienced, it was so painful.
“Heather was a very loving and caring person. She just wanted to make other people happy. She was a nurse, a midwife and a manager of a care home. She did everything she could to make everyone else happy. I have lost my best friend and my soul mate.
“I am devastated, heartbroken, everything. We were married for 43 years and together for 45 years. I met her when I was 17. Her death has left a massive hole in our lives.”
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Abbass and Heather had been watching television together into the early hours on their living room sofas in their home last July when she froze, and her eyes glazed over. Heather had a history of brain haemorrhages, having recently recovered from a mini-stroke, a transient ischaemic attack, just a couple of days earlier. But this time, she was suffering from a major stroke and Abbass was thrown into a hopeless situation. He called 999 at around 2am.
The pair were kept waiting for four hours (Abbass Koolaji/MEN MEDIA)Abbass added: “I explained my wife’s condition, stressing the urgency of the situation. I was told, very casually it was a very busy night, and it might take up to four hours for the ambulance to attend.
“The call itself lacked any real sense of caring or empathy. There were no reassurances or any helpful advice. I had no choice but to reassure myself that we would never have to wait for an ambulance for four hours.
“The visions of my wife’s fearful eyes looking into mine and the sheer and utter sense of helplessness during those four hours are still haunting me. I could not understand why a First Responder, in a car, was not deployed if there were no ambulances available. There was no follow-up call to ensure that my wife was okay or to offer any advice or reassurances. Did anybody care about her wellbeing or was she simply forgotten?”
An ambulance eventually arrived at about 6am and the pair were taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary’s A&E department. An hour later, Abbass received a phone call from another paramedic outside his house.
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “First and foremost, we would like to express our sincere condolences to Heather Koolaji’s family following her death in August 2023, and to say again how sorry we are that operational pressures delayed our response to her on July 8, 2023.
“In order to address the issues raised about this emergency response, the Trust has carried out a thorough investigation and has shared its findings with the family. The findings confirm that high demand and operational pressures were responsible for the ambulance delay. Our thoughts remain with Heather Koolaji’s family.”
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