A 58-year-old woman died alone curled up in a blanket on the floor of her bedroom as she waited more than five hours for an ambulance.
Relatives of Rachel Rose Gibson believe she had a heart attack at her home in Wrexham, north Wales, only a short drive away from a hospital, but died before an ambulance reached her.
The Welsh ambulance service said that on the day Gibson died, its crews spent more than 700 hours waiting outside hospitals for patients to be admitted, which meant they could not respond quickly to people needing help.
Family members said Gibson, a grandmother of seven, called an ambulance at 4pm on 5 April as she was coughing up blood and in chronic pain. By the time an ambulance arrived at 9.30pm, she had died.
Her daughter, Nikita, 29, said: “She was lying on the floor curled up in a blanket. It haunts me to know she died alone in so much pain.
“I feel like I can’t fully grieve because I’m so angry. She only lives five minutes away from the hospital, but must have been in too much pain to get into a taxi.”
The family is waiting for test results to confirm her cause of death, but Nikita Gibson said she had been told it may have been a heart attack. She added: “It’s disgusting that we are using ambulances as waiting rooms. My mum was in need. She should have been a priority.”
Liam Williams, the executive director of quality and nursing at the Welsh ambulance service, said an investigation would be carried out.
He said: “On April 5, our ambulance crews spent over 700 hours outside hospitals across Wales waiting to hand patients over to our hospital colleagues, which in turn meant that our ambulances couldn’t respond to those waiting in the community. I would like to reinforce our sincere apologies and regret to anyone who has had a poor experience from us.”
In April the ambulance service in Wales lost more than 23,000 hours at hospitals across Wales – the equivalent of 2,000 shifts.
Michelle Greene, of Betsi Cadwaladr university health board, said: “We continue to face challenges to discharge patients from hospital to suitable accommodation or care services.
“This does impact flow through the entire hospital system, and on our ability to bring patients into and through the emergency department in a timely manner and we continue to work with our health and social care partners to improve this.”
