An error was made in response to a 999 call made on Christmas Day prior to the death of a Pembrokeshire mum, a hearing has been told.
Llanteg mum Charlotte Burston, 40, was taken ill on Christmas Day and was experiencing chest pains.
Her teenage daughter contacted the ambulance service twice, but when no help arrived rang her grandad who drove from Clunderwen to his daughter’s home. He arrived to find her lying on the sofa saying that she couldn’t breathe.
At a pre inquest hearing on Friday, September 13, Trish Gaskell, for the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust (WAST) said that the trust accepted that there was an ‘error made in allocation’ regarding the 999 calls.
“An advanced paramedic practitioner would normally be allocated and should have been [allocated] to Miss Burston before she was conveyed to hospital,” she said.
“The trust has accepted that error.”
Charlotte’s stepfather, Brian Laye, told the hearing that Charlotte had been told that they couldn’t get an ambulance to her for one and a half hours.
With no medical help forthcoming, he had driven from his home in Clunderwen to Charlotte’s home in Llanteg.
Mr Laye took Charlotte to Withybush Hospital in his car. However, at Robeston Wathen Charlotte suffered a heart attack.
She was transferred from Withybush to Morriston Hospital where she died on New Year’s Eve.
He said his stepdaughter was ‘pretty stable’ when he arrived.
“If they could have got someone there, she would be alive now,” he said.
Deputy coroner, Mark Layton, said that all the reports from WAST, including transcripts from the 999 calls, had now been received and he would instruct an independent expert to review all the evidence.
Ms Gaskell offered to submit additional evidence, looking at the role of the advanced paramedic practitioner and what they would have done, before the expert compiled his report.
Mr Layton said that the expert would examine the evidence and ascertain ‘whether a difference could have been achieved or not’ had the ambulance service’s response been different.
Mr Layton set a date of January 17 for the next pre inquest hearing, in accordance with the family’s wishes to move things on as quickly as possible.
He said he hoped that the details of the full inquest could be finalised at the January hearing.
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