Ambulance delay caused celebrated Manchester doctor's death, son claims.

A celebrated doctor would have "almost certainly survived" if an ambulance was not delayed, his son has claimed.

Prof Kailash Chand, 73, a former leader of the British Medical Association who had been awarded an OBE, died after suffering a cardiac arrest.

His son, Dr Aseem Malhotra, said it took more than 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, more than four times the NHS target.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) says it is investigating the incident.

NHS England's national target for responding to 999 calls about people with life-threatening injuries and illnesses is seven minutes.

Cardiologist, Dr Malhotra, said: "The ambulance did not turn up for more than 30 minutes and, by the time they did, and the paramedics attached the cardiac monitor to dad, I could see it was a flat line."

He said he later discovered there was a "widespread problem" across the country with emergency response times at the time of his father's death.

He added: "The government was aware ambulances were not able to meet targets because of staff shortages and increasing demand but they chose not to tell the public about it."

Dr Malhotra said the decision to withhold the information was "appalling" and "shows a complete lack of accountability and transparency.”

He said that if he had known about ambulance delays he would have asked a neighbour to take his father to hospital "straight away without waiting for an ambulance. I'm almost certain he would have survived.

"I am personally holding the government directly responsible for the death of my father and I am already considering taking legal action against the government for this."

A NWAS spokesperson said: "We offer our sincere condolences to Dr Malhotra and his family and can confirm that we have received a formal complaint from him."We are investigating the incident and will liaise with the family to discuss the matter further."