The pregnant wife of a 31-year-old man who died in a collision in County Durham has said the ambulance service failed him after taking almost an hour to arrive on the scene.
Aaron Morris sustained serious injuries when his motorcycle was involved in a crash on Priestburn Close in Esh Winning just after 12.30pm on Friday, July 1. Aaron was taken to University Hospital of North Durham but later died from his injuries.
His wife Samantha Morris, who is expecting twins, was one of the first people to arrive at the scene after the collision. She said she spent her final moments with her husband trying to make him comfortable while he waited for paramedics.
Samantha has now criticised the response time as she believed her husband may have survived his injuries if there had been a quicker response from paramedics. North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) have now launched an internal review.
Samantha, from Esh Winning, said: "Due to the delay in care the hospital had no time to save his life. I know the outcome would have been different if they had got there in time."
The student nurse added: "If death was the outcome, it could have been so much more comfortable and dignified and less distressing for him and me. We're not doctors, I can't say for sure what the outcome would have been, but I can definitely say for sure that my husband shouldn't have died in the way he did."
Sam said she had to run to a GP surgery located about 10 minutes away to get oxygen to keep her husband comfortable while they waited for paramedics. She added that the time she should have spent by her husband's side in his final hours were spent doing the job of paramedics.
She said: "My husband was conscious and speaking and although he had serious injuries, he wasn't dying. My priority at that point was to make him comfortable and get any equipment I possibly could to help him as best I could without the paramedics being there.
"Instead of me comforting my husband, I was doing their job."
Sam added: "I was put in a role of responsibility that I never should have been put in. I should have been able to sit there and hold my husband's hand, but I couldn't because I had to make him comfortable.
"The time I could have spent with my husband when he was conscious, I didn't spend with him because I was doing the role of the medics that should have been there."
Dr Mathew Beattie, Medical Director for North-East Ambulance Service, said: "I would like to offer our sincere condolences to Mr Morris’s family. We were unable to reach Mr Morris as quickly as we would have liked. Our response was 50 minutes against a standard where nine out of ten responses should arrive within 40 minutes.
"For that we extend our apologies for the additional distress this must have caused in an already tragic situation.
"We are carrying out an internal review to see if there were any missed opportunities to respond quicker and this will be shared with the coroner. It has been widely reported that ambulance services across the country are struggling to meet response standards due to significant pressures across the NHS, but I can reassure you that we are working closely with our system partners to do everything possible to reach patients as quickly as we can."
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