When Samantha Hill’s baby Tom suffered a seizure, she immediately dialled 999 for an ambulance.

But she had to wait 25 minutes for someone to attend her home in Whitstable – and then it was a paramedic who came from Medway – followed by a nerve-wracking 40-minute drive to hospital.

Thankfully 19-month-old Tom made a full recovery. But Mrs Hill, 36, is demanding a full explanation for the length of time it took for an emergency response.

“It was around 25 minutes before the paramedic arrived,” said Mrs Hill, of King Edward Street, who has another child, nine-week-old Beech.

“When a toddler’s involved it should be much quicker, as he could have taken a turn for the worse.

“If the service are understaffed, then they need more people to be trained to do the job, more vehicles available and more funding to let people do the job.”

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She admits despite the delay, the paramedic who treated Tom did a fantastic job: “He calmed me down and told me it was quite a common condition and that he should come round any minute.

“I just had total trust in what he was saying, he was really good.”

Spokesman Liz Smith confirmed they are investigating the incident: “Last year our response times to 999 calls exceeded national government targets.

“However, challenges posed by geography, as well as other demands placed upon our resources, sometimes mean that we take longer than we would like to reach a patient, as has happened with Tom.

“We have already been in touch with Mrs Hill and, if she wishes, we can investigate the matter further and report our findings back to her personally once our investigation is concluded.”

South East Coast Ambulance Service missed their target of 19 minutes for responding to the Category B call.

Category B patients are classified as those needing to be reached quickly, but not with an immediately life threatening condition.

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