Newbury man dies after South Central Ambulance Service takes 14 hours to respond to 999 call

A man has died after an ambulance took 14 hours to respond to an emergency 999 call.

The shocking incident happened at Thomas Merriman Court retirement complex in Newbury, which has non-resident management staff and a Careline alarm service.

Resident Mark Holt, a 57-year-old who suffered from a heart condition, was taken unwell on Monday, December 19 last year.

He pulled the alarm cord and staff called 999.

But tragically, South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) was in "critical incident status" at the time.

Despite increasingly desperate calls from staff, say his family, no help arrived until the following day – and by then it was too late.

His body was reportedly discovered by paramedics.

A neighbour said: "He was a nice guy, just a regular chap.

"He had heart issues but he felt safe because there was a panic cord.

"When he was taken ill he pulled it and staff called 999.

"It's a terrifying situation; I can wait hours for a train or for my post to be delivered but if I call 999 in a life-threatening medical emergency I don't want to have to wait until the next day for an ambulance."

Mr Holt's brother-in-law, Karl Barnes, said: "He pulled the cord and kept waiting.

"And waiting.

"The staff kept ringing 999 over and over again.

"When the ambulance finally got there, it was too late."

Director of operations at SCAS NHS Foundation Trust, Mark Ainsworth, said: "Sadly this man had passed away before the arrival of our ambulance crews on the morning of December 20 when they found him and I extend my sympathy and sincere condolences to his family and friends.

"Our enquiries have established he had been referred to his GP following a 999 call on December 18 and we received a further 999 call the next day.

"When the second 999 call was made the trust was in critical incident status due to overwhelming demand with our ambulance crews unable to respond to every patient as quickly as we would like and calls were being prioritised due to greatest need."

He added: "I would urge the man’s family to contact our Patient Experience Team on 0300 123 9280 should they have any questions or concerns about our response so we can answer these fully.

"We will be looking further in to the circumstances."

A report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch published by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) in November last year showed the ambulance service in meltdown.

Around 169,000 hours of ambulance crews’ time across the month was lost due to delays, rendering paramedics unable to answer 135,000 calls.

Delays exposed an estimated 41,000 patients to potential harm, of whom about 5,000 were put at risk of, or experienced, "severe harm," including death.

The report noted: "The investigation spoke to staff working in urgent and emergency healthcare about their wellbeing.

"Staff described the detrimental impact on their personal health and wellbeing resulting from not being able to help the sickest people."