A GRIEVING son has spoken of the agonising hours he says he spent waiting for an ambulance for his father who lay dying at his Tywyn home.

Richard Saddington, 71, died on Friday, 29 July after waiting for two hours for an ambulance, his son Nicholas claims. Although his father had a few medical ailments, Nicholas said he was in okay health and not expected to die suddenly.

“He had just returned from a two week break away with a couple of friends, so he had been relaxing and was feeling good,” Nicholas explained.

“I’m happy knowing he had that time with friends.

“On the afternoon of 29 July, father was complaining about shortness of breath and pain in his stomach. A few minutes later his breathing got harder and he said to call the ambulance. I called at about 3.20pm and explained my father could hardly breath, thought he was having a heart attack and looked like he was dying in front of me. The operator asked his name, date of birth and our location and said the ambulance would be two to five hours. Obviously I was gobsmacked. I said we can’t wait two to five hours! Unfortunately, I think my dad’s last words were ‘I’ll be dead before that’.

“The call handler told me if it got worse to call back. I was panicking and so distressed. I kept trying to explain it can’t get any worse. The call handler said she had to get off the call because another emergency was trying to get through.

“I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I was so upset I had to hang. I instantly called back and spoke to a different call handler. She talked me though the CPR and told me the ambulance was on its way. There was no ETA on the ambulance and all I could do was carry on with CPR.

“While this was happening I managed to call my fiancée, Amanda, who rushed over with her friend. My fiancé took over from me whilst I ran next door to get help from the farmer.”

After doing CPR for an hour and 15 minutes, Nicholas said his father’s condition changed.

“There was a stillness and his temperature started to fall and then his lips started to change colour. It was at this point I knew I’d lost him. We carried on with the CPR for what felt like at least another half an hour after before paramedics arrived from Lampeter with no flashing lights or sirens. I couldn’t believe they had to come from so far away.

“I’m told it was about 10 minutes after that an ambulance crew from Dolgellau arrived. They told our neighbours they didn’t understand how this had happened, it hadn’t come through as an emergency and they could have arrived earlier. I don’t know why any of our first responders didn’t get a call; I’m told there are quite a few in our area and it seems none were called.

“Since 2001 my dad has donated to the Air Ambulance, telling me it’s one, if not the most important service in our area and you’ll never know when you’ll need it. The one time he needed it, why wasn’t it called? I’m not saying there would have been a different outcome, we’ll never know, but what upsets me is the fact I had him alive for so long and no one came to help.”

Liam Williams, Welsh Ambulance Service executive director of quality and nursing said: “We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Saddington family at this difficult time. We would like to invite the family to contact us directly so that we can work with them to ensure a full investigation is carried out.

“We recognise that some of our patients experience delays, and we apologise to anyone who has had a poor experience from us. We are working with partners across Wales to address the level of demand we are experiencing.”

Mr Saddington’s funeral took place on Wednesday, 17 August at 1pm.