Woman, 82, dies after 15 hours laying on the floor at home waiting for an ambulance

A WOMAN of 82 died after 15 hours laying on the floor at home waiting for an ambulance.

A coroner said it showed that the system for prioritising 999 medical calls was no longer fit for purpose,

The first call was made at 5.13pm after Shirley Hughes collapsed at home in Ruthin, Denbighshire, in June.

But the ambulance service was busy and, despite her case being upgraded under the medical priority dispatch system, no help arrived until 7.48am the next day.

She died in hospital from sepsis four days later.

An inquest heard that Ms Hughes should have waited up to 20 minutes after the priority upgrade at 4.13am — but she waited 3½ hours more.

Coroner John Gittins said: “This raises questions as to whether the MPDS system remains fit for purposes.”

“For many years, myself and other coroners have raised concerns regarding so-called ‘ambulance delays'”.

In a prevention of future deaths report, he said coroners’ worries over ambulance delays were growing.

He added: “I’m concerned lives are at risk.”