A woman who died from Covid pneumonia waited nine hours for an ambulance after a fall at home. Patricia Green also faced a three hour wait to see a doctor after arriving at A&E at Tameside hospital, a coroner's report says.
It details how Mrs Green was left lying on the floor, unable to use the toilet, with her breathing deteriorating following the fall last summer. Mrs Green died of Covid pneumonia on June 30, 2022.
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Following an inquest in Stockport in January, Alison Mutch, senior coroner for Manchester South, has now written a report to the Health Secretary highlighting concerns about delays to Ms Green's treatment.
"The inquest heard that the shortage of ambulances was due to a number of factors including high demand and a shortage of crews due to long delays at emergency departments across Greater Manchester to offload patients," Ms Mutch wrote in the prevention of future deaths report published last week.
"The evidence before the inquest was that the delay on the day [the deceased] was waiting for an ambulance was not unusual and still remained the case on the day of the inquest."
Listing her 'matters of concern' Ms Mutch added: "Mrs Green had a long wait for an ambulance, despite her age and the recognised risks of being on the floor for a prolonged period of time, due to a shortage of ambulances. Mrs Green deteriorated whilst waiting to be taken to hospital.
"The inquest heard that Mrs Green's wait of three hours in ED (emergency department) was not unusual and was due to the volume of patients waiting to be seen and the overall demand on ED. The consequence was that elderly frail patients were receiving treatment that was delayed and in circumstances that were challenging for frail patients."
An North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We offer our sincere condolences to Mrs Green's family, and we are sorry couldn’t reach her as quickly as we would like. We have since improved our procedures to identify patients who have waited a long time on the floor and we're working in partnership with local Integrated Care Boards to develop initiatives to provide more timely responses."
A spokesperson for Tameside and Glossop NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Tameside hospital, said: "We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of Mrs Green. Following His Majesty’s Coroner's inquest, we can confirm that the trust followed the correct protocol regarding the care of Mrs Green, and we have confirmed this in writing to His Majesty’s Coroner."
A spokesperson said the Department of Health and Social Care would respond to the coroner.
In December ambulance response times in England were the worst on record across all major categories, while people waiting 12 hours or more to be admitted to A&E also reached an all-time high. The average response time for people requiring an ambulance for a stroke, severe burns or chest pain was 93 minutes, five times the operation target of 18 minutes.
In October last year a hospital boss apologised after an elderly patient died in the back of an ambulance outside Fairfield Hospital in Bury. The elderly patient was taken to hospital with a serious chest infection but was examined by doctors, and given antibiotic treatment in the back of the ambulance due to a lack of space inside the rammed emergency department.
The patient died after suffering a cardiac arrest while still in the back of the ambulance some three hours after arriving at hospital.
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