A widow has released a harrowing photograph of her last moments with her dying husband after it took five hours for an ambulance service to get him to hospital.
Mthuthuzeli Mpongwana, 38, died of meningitis after suddenly being taken ill at his Bristol home on January 5.
His wife Lisa phoned 111, the NHS non-emergency helpline, but she was forced to wait five hours for her rapidly-deteriorating husband to be taken into hospital.
Two days later, Mrs Mpongwana had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off her husband's life support. He was later found to have died from meningitis of the brain.
Speaking of his unexpected death, 27-year-old Mrs Mpongwana said: 'At the beginning my husband was talking and asking questions, by the time they arrived he was completely unresponsive.'
Mr Mpongwana began feeling unwell at the couple's home in Bedminster, Bristol, and soon became extremely sensitive to light.
His wife phoned the NHS non-emergency number and was told a blue-lights ambulance would be sent straight away.
Two-and-a-half hours later a rapid response car arrived at their home. It took a further three hours for Mr Mpongwana to be taken to hospital, by which point he was seriously ill.
Mrs Mpongwana said: 'I called 111 because I could see he was bad, he couldn't stand being around lights at all.
'The caller said they would send a blue lights ambulance straight away because they thought it was serious. We then had to wait until 1.30am for one man in a car to arrive.
'At first he thought it was just the flu and called the GP out-of-hours for advice about whether he should admit him to hospital.
'He then called for an ambulance but it took until 4.30am for it to arrive.'
Mr Mpongwana never regained consciousness and Lisa had to switch off his life support machine. It was later confirmed he had died of meningitis of the brain.
South Western Ambulance Service has now apologised for the incident.
A spokesman said: 'South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust received a call from the NHS 111 service in Bristol at approximately 11pm to attend a male patient suffering from a headache and fever.
'A Rapid Response Vehicle was dispatched and arrived at the scene at approximately 1.18am.
'The patient was treated by our crews before being transported to the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
'The trust would like to apologise for the delay in getting to this patient during what was a very busy time.
'We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and would urge them to get in touch so that we can investigate the matter further.'
Mrs Mpongwana is now appealing for money to pay for her husband's funeral. To donate visit: www.gofundme.com/k4skqc
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