NHS says sorry to family of London woman who died in front of her daughters during 2-hour ambulance wait

The NHS has issued an apology to the family of a London woman who died while waiting nearly two hours for an ambulance following a suspected heart attack. Victoria Yamphet, 40, died in front of her two daughters, aged nine and 18, at her house in Dagenham, east London, the day before the nationwide ambulance strike last week.

The Times reported that her eldest daughter Emmanuela carried out CPR on her mother as she waited one hour and 45 minutes for an ambulance, despite “screaming and crying” to call handlers. After she had died, her body was left in the home with her daughters for six hours before it was collected.

A support worker for more than 20 years, Yamphet reportedly came home on January 8 with flu and complained “about her ribs and belly hurting”. Her condition worsened and at 6.09am two days later, Emmanuela called for an ambulance, where she was told a crew was “six to ten minutes away”.

However, no one had arrived after 20 minutes, so she called the ambulance again after the delay had increased to an hour. She said: “I called again and all of a sudden it was an hour wait. I told them my mum can’t wait that long. I was in distress because I didn’t know what to do.”

After more than an hour after the initial call, she was told a taxi be sent to pick up her mother but her mum’s condition quickly deteriorated. She said: “Before the taxi got us, her pain got worse. She just stopped breathing in front of me and my little sister. I put her in a recovery position. I did CPR on her.” She added that she called the ambulance again “screaming and crying” to attend to her mum quicker.

The ambulance finally arrived at about 30 minutes later at 7.44am shortly before the taxi, but paramedics told Emmanuela her mother had suffered a cardiac arrest. She told The Times: “It’s very unfair. My mum was a support worker, she always looked after people, but when it was her turn she wasn’t taken care of.”

Dr Fenella Wrigley, the chief medical officer for London Ambulance Service, said: “We are deeply sorry for the delay in responding to Mrs Yamphet. We are investigating our response to this 999 call and the care provided, and as part of this thorough review, will contact Mrs Yamphet’s family to understand the circumstances of this incident.”

Last week, ambulance employees in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland went on strike over a pay dispute. On Friday (January 20), Unite union announced 10 further days of industrial action in February and March to increase pressure on the government over salary negotiations.