A pensioner who phoned 999 complaining she could not breathe died after waiting three hours for an ambulance which was never sent. Janet Lyon, 67, from Leicestershire, called the emergency number on December 27 when she found herself struggling to breathe. But she was advised to go to a walk-in centre or see her GP after a call handler determined she had an urgent problem that was not life-threatening.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) later apologised but said it found the 999 call was handled appropriately, adding the service was experiencing ‘high demand’ at the time. Ms Lyon’s daughter Katie Keating, who had submitted a formal complaint to EMAS, said she was ‘enraged’ at the response. She told the BBC: ‘I am totally flabbergasted they have not admitted responsibility. That was a completely preventable death. She was not given a chance to have any treatment.’ Ms Lyon’s death certificate said she died from pneumonia.
Mrs Keating, from Nottingham, said: ‘Her lungs were full of fluid and she inwardly drowned in those three hours. She passed out because she could not breathe.’ She said her brother would have taken her to A&E if the call handler had advised it, adding: ‘The only thing that would have helped was medical intervention. ‘They should have sent an ambulance – she needed oxygen. She was right to call an ambulance – that was her gut instinct.’
In a letter to the family, EMAS said the call had been ‘correctly coded’ as requiring a category 3 response. The ambulance service said the pensioner was advised to make her own way to a walk-in centre, urgent care centre or contact her GP, and to call 999 if her symptoms worsened or changed. When a second call was made to say she was not breathing, that was classed as a category 1 call and paramedics arrived in two minutes.
The letter went on: ‘At the time of the 999 call our service was experiencing a high demand for emergency responses. ‘The caller was correctly advised, via a predetermined script, that from the information gathered this was not an immediate life-threatening emergency and we would not be sending an emergency ambulance.’
Susannah Ashton, Divisional Director for Leicestershire at EMAS said: ‘We would like to offer our sincere condolences to Ms Lyon’s family and we are deeply sorry that we were unable to get to this patient sooner. ‘Patient care and safety is our priority. I am sorry that on this occasion the service provided to Ms Lyon was not to the standard expected. ‘We are currently in contact with Ms Lyon’s family through our Patient Advice and Liaison Service and are fully investigating the reason for this delay.’