A PENSIONER was found dead in her house after waiting almost four hours for an ambulance to arrive amid England's NHS crisis.
The 81-year-old woman called 999 complaining of chest pains, according to a union.
Paramedics arrived hours later and forced entry to her property in Clacton, Essex, but she had already died, the GMB said.
East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) said crews arrived three hours and 45 minutes after the initial call on Tuesday.
Dave Powell, regional officer for GMB, said the incident is "another example of how we are not coping" with the NHS winter crisis.
"My concern is now that we are actually suffering deaths whilst people wait for ambulances," he added.
"On arrival, the crew had sufficient concerns to force entry to the property as the control room could not contact the patient via telephone.
"Unfortunately, the patient was found deceased in the property and there was nothing the crew could do for her.
"I'm sure this case is much more widespread than the public is aware of."
EEAST previously said it has had to rely on taxis to take patients to hospital after struggling to cope with a surge in demand over the holiday period.
A statement on January 2 said the service received more than 4,100 calls on December 31 and around 4,800 on January 1.
"To put this into content, the Trust's average daily volume of calls is about 3,000 calls a day," it added.
Matt Broad, deputy director of service delivery, said: "The Trust, as well as the wider NHS, is still experiencing incredibly high demand and is under extreme pressure."
The incident came with temperatures predicted to plummet this weekend, putting further strain on health services.
NHS England urged people to stock up on medicines, check on vulnerable or elderly neighbours and get the flu jab.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here