Was saving his life too much to afford? (Picture: Samina Rahman)
‘We can’t afford it.’
That’s what Sir Keir Starmer said when asked whether he would restore NHS junior doctors’ pay if he got into power.
Rishi Sunak has the same position, too.
When I hear words like ‘affordability’ being used in relation to our National Health Service, I get angry. I immediately think about my husband – who died in my arms after an ambulance took too long to arrive, thanks to NHS staff shortages.
Was saving his life too much to afford?
To me, fixing the crisis in our broken NHS and social care system is the issue that matters most in this summer’s election. I know first-hand how much is at stake.
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On Christmas Eve 2022, myself, my husband of 36 years, Iqbal, our daughter Sana and her children were excited to be spending Christmas together in a rented cottage in Hereford.
On arriving at the house Iqbal started to complain of shoulder pain and feeling sick, he looked pale and was sweating excessively.
I work for the NHS as a Speech and Language Therapist and quickly realised that Iqbal’s symptoms suggested heart problems.
Samina works for the NHS as a Speech and Language Therapist (Picture: Samina Rahman)
We first rang 999 at 7:07pm and were put through to West Midlands Ambulance Service. Iqbal was triaged as a category 5 case, requiring a callback with advice from a paramedic or nurse.
While waiting for a call back Iqbal’s condition worsened.
We ended up calling 999 again, 40 minutes later, panicking as his eyes had rolled back into his head. This time Iqbal was triaged as category 2 but we were told to wait or bring him into the hospital ourselves.
We tried, but it was impossible to carry him, as Iqbal was in and out of consciousness and not able to support his own weight.
Later, we found out an ambulance was dispatched, but then diverted to a higher priority call.
We rang a third time at 8.04pm after waiting for almost an hour since the first call. By now his breathing was very laboured. I remember saying to …read more
Source:: Metro
