Family Demands Answers After Fatal Delay
William Parker, 62, described the loss of his sister Julie as “absolutely shocking” and said government ministers should “hang their heads in shame” over the country’s ambulance waiting times crisis. Julie Parker, 55, collapsed at her flat in Kilmarnock and died on her way to hospital after waiting almost four hours for an ambulance on Monday, June 22, 2026.
Police were called after Julie failed to answer the door. Officers forced entry to the property at 5.48pm and immediately called for paramedics. However, William said he was told by police that they waited with Julie for nearly four hours before medics arrived at 9.28pm. Julie suffered a suspected cardiac arrest in the ambulance en route to Crosshouse Hospital and was pronounced dead.
Brother's Anguished Plea to Health Secretary
William Parker has written to Scotland’s Health Secretary Angela Constance, demanding urgent change. In his letter, he wrote: “I’m writing this from a broken-hearted family who has just lost their only daughter and sister. It took that ambulance four hours to arrive, where once they got her in she sadly died in the ambulance. As a family, minister, how an earth can we go on with any hope or respect for this Government?”
He added: “Can you imagine this was your beloved family member lying on a floor dying for four hours. I hope this reaches the right person and changes can be made so no other family goes through this.”
Circumstances of the Collapse
It is not yet known what caused Julie to collapse. She was a dog sitter and was caring for three pets at the time. Her brother suspects she may have lain in her flat for up to two days before being found. One of the pet owners raised the alarm when she came to collect her dog, hearing Julie moaning but unable to open the door. Police arrived and found Julie lying on the bathroom floor.
William said: “The police told us about the wait for the ambulance. They said they were phoning on the hour asking ‘where’s this ambulance?’ We believe she had a cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to Crosshouse hospital.”
Political Response and Criticism
Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie urged the health secretary to speak to Julie’s family and set out a “clear plan” to address the crisis. She said: “This is a heartbreaking case and my thoughts are with Julie’s family. Too many people like Julie have been failed in their hour of need by an NHS that simply cannot cope. The appalling pressure on our ambulance service is putting lives at risk and it cannot continue.”
The tragedy comes amid figures showing a surge in ambulance turnaround times and a rise in patients dying before reaching hospital. A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request revealed that 61 of the most high-risk callers waited over an hour for an ambulance between 2020 and 2025, and 29 waited more than 90 minutes.
NHS and Ambulance Service Under Strain
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We would like to extend our deepest condolences to Ms Parker’s family. We are very sorry for their loss. On 22 June, our service was under significant pressure due to lengthy hospital turnaround times at University Hospital Crosshouse, including delays of over six hours. These delays prevent our crews from getting back out on the road to treat other patients.”
Vicki Campbell, Director of Acute Services at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: “We offer our heartfelt and sincere condolences to Ms Parker’s family. We will undertake a review to fully understand events and plan to do this on a multi-agency basis. Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to make any additional comment. As with other Boards in Scotland, there is high demand to access unscheduled care services and we are currently experiencing significant pressures across the whole health and care system.”
Family's Ongoing Grief and Quest for Justice
William, who was on a course in England when he received the news, drove straight home to be with his parents Isabel and John. The family is now awaiting the results of a postmortem to establish the cause of Julie’s illness. William said: “It’s devastating. Her colour wasn’t looking great over the past few months so we’d spoken about her going to her doctor but she was the type that nothing ever troubled her. She would say ‘I’m fine, I’m ok’. She was always upbeat.”
William has been assured that the incident is being investigated by the Ambulance Service. He highlighted the wider impact: “The police had to wait four hours as well, so their time was tied up looking after my sister when crimes are being committed that they couldn’t attend. We’ve got an ageing population and this is only going to get worse until drastic changes are made.”
Police Scotland confirmed the death is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
