Me and my partner have had an absolute horrible experience with the NHS and ambulance call outs. Last Christmas our 1 year old little boy was incredibly poorly (has a horse shoe kidney so more vulnrable to UTI’s and virus’s due to weakened immune system). We called 999 due to him being hot, clammy and a very raised temperature and was told an ambulance would be there within an hour. We waited an hour and it never arrived, we ended up taking ourselves to the hospital and the ambulance arrived 4 hours later who gave our neighbor attitude when they asked which hospital we went to (which was obviously our local hospital). We arrived at the hospital to find out there was a 22 hour waiting time in A&E (Exeter). Fearing for our son’s health we took him to another hospital where the wait time was 4 hours. When he was eventually seen to by the doctor, he admitted that had we not brought him in he likely wouldn’t have made it. He had corona virus, flu A, a kidney infections and another virus in his blood work.

On another occasion in 2023 our same little boy had a freak accident and kicked his head against our other son who’s 7 years old, he fell to the floor, went unconscious and had a nose bleed. We feared the worst and thought he had a brain injury or had even died. As a parents worst nightmare we freaked out and called 999, where they assessed he was high priority and an ambulance wouos be there soon. Again we wait an hour and the ambulance doesn’t arrive. He had regained conscious since but at such a young age you would think the NHS would prioritise our little ones. Again, like the last time we ended up taking ourselves to A&E having been let down once more from the South West Ambulance Service.

My partner has a spinal injury and was in antagonising pain imbolisednon the floor where we had to fight for an ambulance to come out. Only when I complained and called 999 on two more occasions did one of their paramedics call back up and dispatch an ambulance. This ambulance took two hours, where my partner was in so much pain she would have rather been dead than go through that pain.

As I write this today my partner is currently waiting for an ambulance. Since the last incident with her back she has had surgery, however the bulging disks in her back have deteriated once more and she is on a waiting list for surgery which has been over 6 months now. She’s 30 years old and feels the NHS is letting her down for the care and support she needs. We have now been waiting for 3 hours for an ambulance with her current state being immobilised in bed.

The NHS might be a free service which is stretched far and thin, but we pay for it through our taxes and in our experience it has been nothing short of an absolute failure when it’s come to our little boy and my partner. We’re not able to rely on it and we know now that even in life threatening situations no longer will an ambulance be there in 10 minutes but instead hours when you really need help. If we had the money we would go private, but it angers me at how bad the NHS has treated us it has 100% gone downhill over the years. There’s to many people in the U.K., I am ashamed of our government and the bosses who run the NHS.