Teenager dies after waiting three minutes too long for ambulance following cardiac arrest

He was one of dozens of people in the West Midlands who might have lived if crews were not held up for hours at hospitals, an ambulance boss claims. Credit: PA

"We were there three minutes too late to save him." 

That's the haunting claim from West Midlands Ambulance Service's nursing and commissioning executive director, Mark Docherty, after an 18-year-old died waiting for an ambulance following a cardiac arrest.

He was one of dozens of people in the West Midlands who might have lived if crews were not held up for hours at hospitals, an ambulance boss claims.

The young man suffered a cardiac arrest while out with friends and later died.

Mr Docherty believes he would have had a chance if a crew had reached him sooner, he said: “I am visiting his family shortly. The notes about the case would make you cry, he knew he was in trouble.

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He added: "He told his friends ‘I've got a funny feeling’ and laid down on the ground, he knew that something was going to happen and we just didn't get there on time."Category 1 'threat to life' 999 calls should ideally be reached within a target time of seven minutes, with a margin of up to 15 minutes.Mr Docherty added: “A fit 18-year-old would probably stand a very, very good chance of survival, but we were there three minutes too late, which in cardiac arrest makes a massive difference.

"I know the family will ask what we are doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and the truth is I don't know what else we can do."

West Midlands Ambulance Service say the delays remain very long and persistent, despite promises of urgent action.

Thousands of ambulance hours are being lost every week because vehicles are routinely parked beyond the 30 minutes expected for the safe handover of a patient, with delays often stretching to hours. Those delays are having a knock-on impact for response times.Mr Docherty says his data analysis work had identified 72 local people in a year who he believed died due to ambulance response delays.

He added the situation was having a 'crushing impact' on ambulance control staff and paramedics, who were often seeing and hearing first hand the desperate impact of delays. Patients and families were having to call back, often repeatedly, to chase up ambulances.

West Midlands Ambulance Service say the delays remain long and persistent, despite promises of urgent action Credit: PA

"It is very distressing to listen to a call from a patient who, by the time we reach them, is dead. We hear the last words they utter."

The NHS in the Midlands said: "NHS staff have gone above and beyond over the last year contending with record levels of A&E attendances and ambulance call outs, all while treating hundreds of thousands of seriously ill Covid patients."Anyone needing NHS help should come forward through 111 online so staff can help with the best option for your care, or call 999 for a life-threatening emergency."

They added that systems across the region are being supported, including:

  • Working to develop and implement a policy to ensure ambulance services can immediately hand over a patient to ED if there is a risk to a patient in the community and there is no ambulance available in the area to respond.

  • The development of action plans to share risk across whole systems so patients can be handed over quickly and reduce delays

  • Working to make sure patients who do not need the Emergency Department are seen appropriately elsewhere within the NHS

  • Making sure systems work together to discharge patients when appropriate to keep capacity available for those who need to be admitted.

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