A afflicted woman who was tolerated to examine her husband to confirm that she was dead has said that she remains in her mind every time she closes her eyes.
When Catherine Steele’s husband, Anthony, died of stomach cancer in May, called an ambulance but was tolerated that none was available.
He was asked to make a video call and check her husband’s vital signals to confirm that she had died.
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (Nias) apologized and said: “We regret that you have not experienced the level of service that would rightly expect at this particularly difficult time.”
‘There is no ambulance available’
Mrs. Steele had called a 24 -hour nursing help line, but said no one got.
His sister then occupies the range 999.
It was told to Mrs. Steele’s sister that an ambulance would be sent, but none came.
The sister then had to go to pick up the son of Mrs. Steele of work, leaving her alone with her husband.
Mrs. Steele later received a call to say that an ambulance would not arrive and was asked to participate in a video call.
“I had to make her pulse on her wrists, and on her neck and then opened my eyes on the video call so she could see,” Mrs. Steele said to the Nolan program of BBC Radio Ulster.
It was then the call medical professional confirmed that Mrs. Steele’s husband was dead.
Getty imagesHe was asked to contact a doctor, who sent the district nurse.
“It’s just my last memory of him and it’s in my mind every time I close my eyes,” he said.
“It is not acceptable, I know that the ambulance service and the NHS are under stress, but I feel that it should never happen again.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone.”
Mrs. Steele said they had prescribed sleeping tablets due to the suffering of insomnia from the incident.
“I simply close my eyes and see his eyes, and just reproduce back and forth back in your mind.”
In a statement, the girls said: “We will communicate with Mrs. Steele to fix it to meet her and apologize to her in person and, more importantly, to listen to her concerns that we could learn from her experience to help reure anyone else who would not have done.”
