THE family of a pensioner who died after an ambulance crew arrived too late to save him want answers about the delay.
Edward Parker's doctor called for an ambulance at 5.15pm, believing the 78-year-old, of Wrekenton, Gateshead, Tyneside, needed hospital treatment for a twisted bowel.
He was assured the ambulance would be there within an hour, but, despite frantic calls from Mr Parker's three sons, it was 7.23pm before a crew reached the pensioner, eight minutes after he had died.
Mr Parker's son David, 47, said: "I would not wish on anybody to sit and watch their own father in agony."
A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust confirmed it had responded to an urgent, rather than emergency, call, which was later upgraded
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