Mum died after ambulance was cancelled while it was 1 minute away
 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-her-home.html


A WOMAN was found dead in her living room ten hours after an NHS 111 call handler cancelled an ambulance when it was just one minute away from her home, an inquest heard today.

Tragic Ann Walters, 61, died after a nurse called off the emergency response team which had been heading to see her.

A later investigation found Pete Richardson had 'not demonstrated an understanding of heart failure' when dealing with the call.

At today's hearing he confessed he made a mistake and apologised to the family.

The inquest was told Mrs Walters called the NHS 111 service on December 28, 2014, asking for a doctor to be sent to her home.

Her breathlessness caused an initial call handler concern, so she was classed as an emergency.

He was told by Mrs Walters - who at the time only had months to live - that she had a heart defect, and so dialled 999 himself for an ambulance to be sent to her home despite her asking to see a doctor instead.

A crew was initially dispatched from Waterlooville to her home nearby in Portsmouth, but within four minutes a different ambulance was sent from Queen Alexandra Hospital in the city as it was nearer her home.

However, in the meantime Mrs Walters was called at 8.24am by Pete Richardson, a qualified nurse and clinical support desk practitioner for the 111 service.

After talking with her, he took the decision to stand down the ambulance which was just one minute from her home.

He told today's hearing he opted to stop the ambulance because she was 'forthright' in her views that she wanted a doctor instead.

Her son Lawrence Thorpe, a 25-year-old former teacher, was upstairs in his room that day and was horrified to find her lifeless body at around 6pm.

He dialled 999 but medics who turned up pronounced Mrs Walters dead and said rigor mortis had already set in.

The 111 call handlers seem to 'not demonstrate an understanding of any medical stuff' whenever I have rang tbh. They appear to have a ticky box checklist that needs to be plowed through without any sense.

It that case they need to be trained better

They need to not be told to ask the same questions regardless of what the issue is, I think. They actually say aswell that they are sorry but they 'have' to ask it all, then from my experience anyway after they complete the ticky box sheet they have to consult a nurse on how to handle the problem too..so I can't see how this can be purely the fault of the 111 handler :S

Ahh I read this wrong, it was the nurse not the normal callcentre staff that stood down the ambulance.

Also 'He told today's hearing he opted to stop the ambulance because she was 'forthright' in her views that she wanted a doctor instead.'

So he listened to the patient, and is in the wrong? I don't get this, if she was adamant she wanted a doc, she could have refused to get into the ambulance surely?

:bored:

Shocking.

I really feel for these 111 handlers, they don't have a crystal ball :/
If you don't have a checklist how else are you to determine treatment for someone you can't see?

She asked for a doctor. Fair enough.
I don't get why her son stayed in his bedroom when his mother was so ill:shrug:

Indeed. Seemed like the handler/nurse was in the wrong at first glance, but I don't see the issue at all now I understand whats actually gone on tbh.

I'd assume that as she was adamant she wanted just a doctor and not an ambulance, even though she knew she had a heart condition, she was probably the stoic type who "didn't want any fuss" and so probably hadn't even told her son.

There's not a huge amount you can do when someone is adamant... A guy I know (at the time a recently qualified dentist, so some medical training) noticed an infected wound / rash on a pub landlady's arm when we were out a few years ago. He told her that it looked like it might turn septic or already be septic and that she should seek medical attention... She argued that it was nonsense but eventually agreed that she would. She didn't, and was found dead of septicaemia in the back office a few days later.

The guy blamed himself for a while for not insisting more but, at the end of the day, it's down to the individual whether they seek or accept treatment...

If she was adimant she wanted a doctor then surely the nurse was only following the patients wishes? I also agree with smudgie. If the son isn't worried enough to come down stairs to attend to his mum the woman wasn't in any great distress

Yes, I agree she sounded adamant about wanting to see a doctor rather than an ambulance...now then, where is the doctor she asked for in this tale.
If it was deemed fit to stand the ambulance down as she wanted to see a doctor, why wasn't one sent?
Awful shame for the pub landlady, but the fellow you know shouldn't feel guilty, he tried his best, we can all be a bit stubborn at times and think we know best when it comes down to our own health.

111 are fecking useless every time i've rang em.You're better off going to A and E.