A Good Morning Britain guest who recounted waiting for an ambulance as his mother struggled to breath left viewers “heartbroken” as they learnt she had died before emergency services arrived.
Manchester resident Akshay appeared on the ITV programme on Friday and described being woken during the night as his mother, Bina, struggled to breathe.
The ITV programme played a number of the harrowing 999 calls Akshay made that night as his mother’s condition worsened while waiting.
He said he is now demanding answers from North West Ambulance Service as to why an ambulance took nearly 90 minutes to arrive.
He told co-presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard: “These people caused the death of my mother and that's what I strongly believe.
“If they did come sooner, I believe none of this would have happened.
“If they came within their recommended 18 minutes my mum could be here. She could see my successes throughout life, but now she's not here because of them.”
Good Morning Britain viewers took to Twitter during the programme to express their condolences for Akshay’s “harrowing” experience.
One wrote: “My heart goes out to Akshay and his family #GMB,” while another said: “That poor, poor man. #GMB.”
A third wrote: “How totally devastating for this young man, to hang up and take another call is shameful. #GMB”
Another tweeted: “Wow that is absolutely shocking. Shows the chronic underfunding of ambulance services. #GMB”
Ben Shephard read a response from North West Ambulance Service, which stated: “In this case we can never say sorry enough.
“The amount of time it took for help to arrive is unacceptable and not how we want to care for our patients.
“The exceptional demand we have faced has proved highly challenging and has regularly seen resources over-stretched even though we have taken steps to mitigate this.”
Ben asked Akshay: “Does that give you any comfort?”
He replied saying it doesn’t provide any “hope” or “reassurance” as he said he has been contacted on social media by others who experienced “something similar” in previous years.
He said: “My case is not an isolated case. God knows how many people they may have said sorry to for something similar. A sorry is not something I can accept.
“Something needs to be done. The only person I believe that can do that is the Health Secretary.”
Akshay said that his local MP in Ashton-under-Lyne, Shadow Minister Angela Rayner, has written a letter to the Health Secretary on his behalf.
He said: “I hope he listens to these calls and realises what he's put me and my family through, because I think no family should go through this and they're not meeting their 18 minutes target times. That's clearly proven in my case.”
