A woman begged for an ambulance for two hours while her husband was dying at their home in front of her. Lesley Weekley, 73, who lives in Barry in a two-storey flat she shared with husband of 43 years Rob Weekley, said he had been having sporadic discomfort similar to indigestion in the days leading up to Wednesday, January 4, when he suffered a heart attack in the early hours.
At 2.10am on January 4, Lesley was woken by Rob tapping her on the shoulder asking for indigestion tablets. “He was clammy, freezing cold, and was incoherent,” grandmother Lesley, who works in an ITU department at University Hospital of Wales, told WalesOnline.
“We’d gone to bed on that night with me telling him I’d be taking him to A&E the next morning. He was reluctant to go to A&E because of the long waits, but I told him I’d make him go. He hadn’t seemed too bad but he’d been complaining of a tightness and a trapped wind sensation in his chest.
“I don’t remember if I said the words ‘heart attack’ when I first called 999, but I knew he had all of the symptoms and I kept repeating the symptoms to the call handlers. I couldn’t get a pulse, which I was told later by the paramedics was because his blood pressure was so low and his body was shutting down.”
Between 2.18am and 3.32am Lesley phoned for an ambulance on five occasions and says she told call handlers that her husband was deteriorating quickly. When paramedics arrived at around 4am she says they told her he would have probably survived the heart attack had they been dispatched following Lesley's first call.
Detailing her frantic calls with the ambulance service, Lesley said: “When I first rang 999 they said they had no ambulances available. I explained Rob’s symptoms, and was told to give him four aspirin tablets to chew. He then began vomiting and so I was told not to give him the tablets and that a clinician would ring me back, and if he deteriorated further to call again.
“At 2.36am I called again, and told the call handler that he had collapsed when he tried to get off the bed to go to the toilet. The call handler told me to give him the aspirin tablets and call again if things worsened and again I was told they would give the details immediately to the clinician and they would ring me.
“At 2.55am I rang again and told them he had worsened and that while he was breathing his pulse had stopped. He told me he was lightheaded and had a tingling sensation. I rang again at 3.11am and said the pulse was still not there, but had the same response.
“I rang again at 3.32am and this time I begged for an ambulance, and then he stopped breathing while I was on the phone. They told me an ambulance was then on its way with blue lights and sirens. I dragged him to the floor. I remember he hit his head slightly on the beside table. I started doing CPR as fast as I could, counting with the person on the phone.
“I’m not sure when the paramedics arrived in the end. I think I was performing CPR for around 20 minutes, I was exhausted and my hands had started to become slippery because I was sweating so much. After 10 minutes of counting with the call handler I could hardly keep going. I just remember saying: ‘I can’t keep doing it.'
“The paramedics were absolutely brilliant and did everything they possibly could. I knew he’d died when they told me. I stood there and watched them doing their best and pumping adrenaline into him, but he’d gone. I think he’d already died by the time they’d reached us.”
Everywhere Lesley looks in her home she is reminded of Rob. His keyboard, which he practised on each day, remains in his busy sitting area beside a window where she listened to him play and prepare for his upcoming gigs with his new band Tradestreet. His most recent songs are propped up on top of the keyboard waiting to be played next. Pictures of the couple and their children and grandchildren cover the walls.
“I feel numb,” Lesley said. “I’ve felt numb ever since it happened. Now I’m starting to get angry about what has happened. Rob was an extremely fit man. He’d never needed to go to the GP, he’d never been ill. I feel robbed that he's gone. We hadn't even sorted life insurance for him." Lesley's family have set up a fundraiser for her to try and help with the costs of his funeral, which you can find here.
Rob - a retired architect from Rhoose, was "loved and well-respected" in Barry and further afield, especially in music and rugby circles. He captained Barry Rugby Club and then played for London Welsh after moving near London for 25 years to live with Lesley, who is from Kent. London Welsh paid its own tribute to Rob on its social media channels, saying he will be “sorely missed”. Both clubs held a minute’s silence in his memory at their fixtures at the weekend.
“Rob was a delightful person,” Lesley, who married Rob in 1989 after they'd met in a wine bar in Kent a few years earlier, added with a smile. “He was so positive, he saw the best in everyone, he loved a chat and a debate, and he was a great musician. When he left rugby he needed something else to occupy him and to be around people - and he found that with his music.
"He had no idea just how well thought of he was - but we’ve received so many texts and so much support. It’s been like Waterloo station in here. I think once that all settles down it will really hit me that he’s gone.”
Lesley’s daughters Jo Darrington and Niki Thompson, and Rob's children Gareth Weekley and Louise Poole, said they are angry at how Rob died. “Mum is well aware of the pressures facing the NHS because she sees them every day and spends her time consoling others. Now she’s in that position," Jo said. "Our questions are about how it wasn’t recognised that he was suffering a heart attack. The classic symptoms were there.
“Mum couldn’t have done any more than she did. I’m much stronger than she is and I couldn’t have done CPR for that long. It just felt so needless. I know the NHS is on its knees, but it can’t carry on like this.”
Niki explained: “We’re reeling and devastated because Rob should still be alive. So many people say: ‘Yes but that’s the way it is at the moment and it’s happened to a lot of people.’ But it’s not right. People’s lives are ending needlessly.”
Gareth added: "We are all devastated having lost dad, a loving family man who didn’t think twice about helping absolutely anyone and did his best to lift the spirits of everyone around him. Les should not have had to go through what she did. How many more people are going to be left in this position before the necessary support is given to the NHS?"
Liam Williams, executive director of quality and nursing at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “We are really sorry to hear about such a distressing incident, and we send our deepest condolences to Mrs Weekley and her family. This is not the service we aim to deliver, and we know that this must have been a very upsetting and traumatic experience for Mrs Weekley.
“We will be contacting Mrs Weekley to listen to her concerns, investigate the circumstances of our response to Mr Weekley and answer any questions she may have. The pressures on services across the NHS and social care are well documented.
“We recognise that too many patients are having a poor experience of our service, which is something we are extremely concerned about. We are working hard with health board colleagues and Welsh Government to find solutions to long waits in the community for ambulances, but these issues are complex and not easily fixed, dependent as they are on so many elements. In the meantime, we send our sincere condolences to Mrs Weekley and her family and will be in touch with her shortly.”
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