Inquest hears of ambulance delays

South Yorkshire Ambulance service says it is experiencing difficulties.

A health trust has offered its sympathy to a family who dialled 999 three times and waited an hour for an ambulance.

An inquest heard Donald Foulds, 72, of Barnsley died in hospital the next day. A doctor said earlier treatment would have improved his survival chances.

South Yorkshire Ambulance Service admitted it was experiencing difficulties in meeting response times.

It is the sixth inquest involving South Yorkshire ambulance delays in recent months.

Cardiac arrest

Assistant deputy coroner Professor Robert Forrest recorded a narrative verdict on Mr Foulds' death at the Sheffield inquest.

He said Mr Foulds had a cardiac arrest before he was taken to hospital, was treated by a paramedic, but suffered further heart attacks at hospital and died the next day.

He added: "Mr Foulds' death has highlighted a number of lessons which should have been known about earlier and have now been learned."

Afterwards, Jeremy Pease, operations director for the ambulance service, said: "Recent investment of £2m into the ambulance service by our primary care trust will help us improve our response times.

"It will hopefully avoid similar situations occurring in the future.

"This investment will cover the appointment of 60 new frontline staff, in addition to 20 who are already in post."

In May, Sheffield coroner Chris Dorries held a special hearing after earlier taking details of four cases where delays in dealing with 999 calls may have contributed to deaths.

Keren Winnard, 20, of Barnsley, died after waiting 28 minutes for an ambulance after an asthma attack.

Her grandmother made three 999 calls on the evening she died.

The other cases he considered were of Irene Ward, 75, from Sheffield; Edith Shakespeare, 78, from Barnsley and 62-year-old Patricia Swallow also of Barnsley.

In another case, Debra Smith, 46, of Doncaster died of heart trouble after waiting an hour for an ambulance.