A SERIOUSLY ill man was left outside a hospital after an ambulance driver refused to let his wife accompany him.

Baldev Singh, 53, of Fartown, has problems with his speech and memory since suffering a stroke.

But he was left to fend for himself outside Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) after he says an ambulance driver refused to take his wife Sherly with him to an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

Sherly, 36, had been booked in to accompany her husband in the ambulance car from their home on Alder Street to the LGI.

She said: “The driver told me I couldn’t come because I wasn’t booked in.

“My husband needs someone with him because he can’t remember things.”

Sherly, who does not have a car, had to take a taxi to Huddersfield Railway Station, get a train to Leeds and then walk to the LGI.

When she arrived at the hospital, her husband had been waiting for half an hour.

She said: “The driver took my husband to the hospital and left him outside. Baldev was really panicking.”

Mr Singh suffered a stroke in September. He was referred to the LGI after doctors at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax discovered two tumours on his brain.

Sherly has had to take time off her job as a nurse to care for Baldev and their six-year-old son Samuel.

She said: “It’s really, really stressful because Baldev is in terrible pain with constant headaches.

“The left-side of his face has been weakened, his speech and eating have been affected.”

Sarah Fatchett, director of patient transport service operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said of the March 2 incident: “We are committed to providing high-quality non-emergency transport to patients across the region and would like to re-offer our apologies to Mr Singh and his family for any distress caused.

“A manager from the trust has been in touch with the family directly to discuss their concerns and subsequently address the issues raised.”