Bereaved relatives have unveiled a “memorial bench” outside Conservative Party HQ in memory of thousands of people who have died in the last 14 years due to NHS delays.
Among them are the wife and children of Iqbal Rahman who died on Christmas Eve 2022 aged 58 after ambulances were delayed because they were stuck queuing outside A&E and he eventually stopped breathing. They are protesting over a decade-long funding squeeze which has led to deadly 999 and A&E delays because hospitals are full.
Samina, Iqbal’s wife of 39 years, said: “This memorial bench is in remembrance of the thousands who have died after being so badly let down in their greatest hour of need. We have brought the bench here to Tory HQ because they bear responsibility for these deaths by deliberately underfunding our health service.
“I demand more funding for the NHS and social care in memory of Iqbal and all those who have been lost in such traumatic circumstances. The next government owe it to the public to fund the NHS and bring it back to its former glory so other families don’t suffer the pain we have.”
Iqbal arrived for a family Christmas getaway at an AirBnB in Hereford complaining of shoulder pain. The family noticed he had a fever and was excessively sweating and called 999 at 7.07pm. He deteriorated but an ambulance was not sent until the family called a third time after he stopped breathing at 8.04pm. Guidelines state an ambulance should arrive within about seven minutes of such a call but it arrived at 8.28pm.
Samina, a speech therapist for the NHS from Birmingham, added: “We were excitedly waiting for Iqbal to arrive so our holiday could begin. But when he walked through the door it was clear he was very unwell. When Iqbal started saying he had chest pains I knew we needed an ambulance urgently.
“We rang 999 expecting one to arrive within minutes but 80 minutes later we were still waiting. During that awful wait, Iqbal died in my arms, he died knowing that help wasn’t coming. Every day my children, grandchildren and I live with the trauma and pain of that night and the loss of a wonderful father and husband. Our lives will never be the same.
“And he is far from the only person to die in such awful circumstances. This has to stop now.” Patient campaign group Just Treatment has funded the bench. The move follows an earlier petition signed by over 12,500 patients calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to increase total NHS spending by £40 billion to match the European average by 2025.
Another bereaved relative who attended the unveiling is Mathew Hulbert whose 78-year-old mum Jackie died after she was left lying on her bedroom floor for 11 hours waiting for an ambulance. She died two days later at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton from sepsis.
Mathew was told that ambulances on that day were backed up outside Leicester Royal Infirmary, unable to drop patients off because of lack of beds. Mathew said: “This memorial bench is in memory of my dear mum and the thousands of others who have died because emergency care has not responded as it should in their hour of greatest need.
“My mum waited 11 appalling hours on her bedroom floor so today is very emotional for me and other families. But we need to remind those in charge just how much they have let so many people down.” A report by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) estimated almost 14,000 died due to delays in A&E during 2023.
A record decade-long funding squeeze under the Tories has left the NHS with the longest waits in its 75-year history and a 7.6 million appointment backlog in England. Some 2.5 million people were waiting for elective hospital treatment in England in 2010. Those waiting in pain for operations and checks rose to a then-record 4.6 million under the Tories by September 2019.
By last January it had increased to 7.2 million appointments and Rishi Sunak promised to cut the backlog during 2023. Latest figures put it at 7.6 million at the end of April. This appointment backlog includes 6.3 million individual patients – more than one tenth of the population.
Dr Ian Higginson, vice president at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said “The major problem we face is overcrowding in our emergency departments, and that’s because our hospitals are full.” It comes as campaign group We Own It called on the Labour Party to go further on pledges to increase NHS funding to rescue the service and cut outsourcing. Co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan, a retired consultant paediatrician, said: “After 14 years of rising pressures on the NHS and its staff and the damage done, it will take emergency measures to urgently restore the NHS to a safe, strong service.”