88-Year-Old Woman Dies While Waiting 4 Hours For The Ambulance

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Woman’s Nearly 4-Hour Wait For An Ambulance Turns Fatal

An 81-year-old woman was found dead in her home on Tuesday after waiting nearly four hours for an ambulance to come to her house. The elderly woman lived in Clacton, Essex, and called 999 on Tuesday complaining of her horrible chest pains. East of England (EEAST) ambulance reported that their crew did not arrive to help until three hours and 45 minutes after the initial call was made.

Dave Powell, GMB regional officer, said the crew had to force their way into the property on arrival because the control room could not contact the woman by phone, and later found her dead inside the home. “They’re devastated because they’re not in the job to find people dead, they’re in the job to help people and keep them alive,” said Powell.

Ambulance services, like hospitals, have struggled to cope with higher volumes of patients in the midst of the NHS’s winter crisis. Last week, EEAST raised its operational level to the highest possible, an indication that its ability to respond to potentially life-threatening incidents had been affected. In some cases, it has been using taxis to transport patients to hospital. The service says that it received 4,200 calls on Tuesday, while their usual daily average is around 3,000.

Sandy Brown, the deputy chief executive at EEAST, said: “Our sincere condolences and apologies go out to the patient’s family and friends and we are truly sorry for the ambulance wait that occurred at this incident.”