A Melksham woman has been left permanently disabled by a stroke – after waiting two hours for an ambulance.
57-year-old Susan Harding lost the use of the left side of her body after suffering a bleed on the brain last December.
Her partner, Rob Christensen, 63, says her condition worsened in the time the ambulance took to arrive at their home – one hour and 59 minutes after the first 999 call was made.
The average response time for category 2 emergencies is stated as being with 30 minutes, an increase of the previous target of 18 minutes
Every time Rob called back for an update, he was asked to repeat everything from the beginning – which he says made the delays “worse.”
He believes the wait caused extra bleeding and pressure on her brain, which could have been avoided.
After the mum-of-two Susan was initially put in an induced coma, 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.
He is now campaigning for real-time reporting of ambulance response times, an overhaul of call-handling and triage systems to avoid repeated delays, and a clear, time-bound plan for improvements that the public can track.
“We’re supposed to act fast, and we got nothing from the emergency services. For the first time, I felt helpless, really helpless.
“It’s like a bereavement because she’s not all there. It’s horrible, and it makes me angry – it’s changed our lives.”
Susan suffered the stroke on December, 12 2024, while in the bathroom at home and has been in hospital since.
Rob said: “We had a normal day doing some Christmas shopping and when we got home Susan had asked me to go into the garage to sort some Christmas decorations.
“Susan was amusing herself, happily sorting through stuff and I was re-soldering battery connections for the wreath.
“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.
“I found Susan collapsed on the floor.”
Noticing her face had drooped on one side, and her speech was slurred, Rob leapt into action and called an ambulance – not knowing he’d be waiting almost two hours for it to turn up.
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 RUH in Bath and Rob says other than being busy, South Western Ambulance Service have given no other reason for the delay.
She was put into an induced coma to be transferred to Southmead Hospital in Bristol – where she remained in an induced coma for nearly four weeks. Susan then had surgery to relieve the bleeding on her brain.
On January 21, 2025, she was moved back to the RUH and eventually moved to a local hospital in Chippenham for rehab physio in March.
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.
“It’s horrible, and it makes me angry – it feels like our lives have come to an end.
“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.”
Keen to seek answers, Rob wrote to his local MP and eventually received a letter 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.”
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.”
- You can support Rob’s petition here.
