OAP died after ambulance wait

Ms Male died primarily due to a heart attack, an inquest heard

An elderly woman died in her home just minutes before an ambulance she had waited for more than seven hours to arrive, came to take her to hospital.

Nellie Male, 86, died at her home in Cardiff after suffering a heart attack.

An inquest at Cardiff Coroner's Court was told that a GP who had visited the pensioner on the day of her death in March last year had diagnosed her as suffering from pneumonia.

He arranged for an ambulance to be called out to take Ms Male to hospital within two hours.

The booking was received at 1325 GMT, but an ambulance did not arrive at her home in the Llanrumney, area of the city until 2050 GMT - about five minutes after she had died.

The service has taken this incident very seriously and an extensive internal investigation has been completed Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust

The inquest also heard how Ms Male's friend, Richard Rogers, had phoned the doctor's surgery as well as called the ambulance service several times before it arrived.

Asked by another of Ms Male's friends, Jackie Newman, if the 86-year-old would have survived if the ambulance had arrived on time, pathologist Nicholas Dallimore said it was "impossible to tell".

He added: "The main active treatments for heart attacks have to be given within one or two hours of the heart attack happening."

He said Ms Male's death was primarily due to the heart attack, which probably happened a day or two previously.

'Silent heart attack'

GP Dr Albert Guillem had called at Ms Male's home on the day of her death and diagnosed pneumonia.

He said Ms Male was wheezing and her heart was beating quickly.

The hearing was told it was possible for people to suffer "silent heart attacks", particularly the elderly.

Dr Guillem told the hearing: "I thought this lady needed hospital admission and that is why I arranged admission."

He said he arranged for an ambulance through a hospital department called the "bed bureau" and added: "I remember telling them there should be a maximum of about two hours."

I will further consider whether I shall write with regard to the possible improvement of the service in order to prevent such occurrences in future Coroner Lawrence Addicott

George Murphy, regional ambulance officer for south east Wales, said there was an investigation into the events surrounding Ms Male's death.

He said that during an eight-hour period the service had been dealing with two thirds of the normal daily activity.

He added: "The demands on the day were particularly excessive."

Mr Murphy said 49 emergency calls were received during the period and 999 calls had to take priority over other types of call.

He said that on the day, about five or six patients were delayed beyond four or five hours.

'Internal investigation'

Coroner for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Lawrence Addicott recorded a "narrative verdict", that Miss Male had died at home from a heart attack before the ambulance arrived, which had been delayed.

He said: "I feel recording a verdict of natural causes does not really satisfy the events that surrounded her death.

"The conclusion I record is that she died at home from a heart attack before the ambulance arrived which had been delayed.

"I will further consider whether I shall write with regard to the possible improvement of the service in order to prevent such occurrences in future."

A statement later released on behalf of the ambulance service said: "The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust would like to offer once again its sincere condolences to the friends of Nellie Male with regards to the unfortunate circumstances of her death.

"The service has taken this incident very seriously and an extensive internal investigation has been completed and recommendations adopted.

"The ambulance service has reaffirmed the importance of the procedures which were originally in place to prevent delays occurring."