A man died after 999 call staff said they didn't have a code for a defibrillator his family wanted to use to try to save him. The man's family called 999 four times as he fell ill and were told an ambulance would be six hours.
Family members ran to a nearby community defibrillator and called 999 again to get the code to access it, but were told there is no record of the device on the system.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has launched an investigation, reports StokeOnTrentLive. A family member said: “There has been a catalogue of errors. It is shocking. On our first call we were told to wait as they were very busy.
"We rang 999 for help at 12.38pm, 13.17, 14.14, and 14.35. An ambulance arrived at 14.55. When I asked for the code to access the defibrillator I was told that there was no record of it.
“He was in cardiac arrest. I was asked why did I need it. I was also spoken to rudely. I thought at the time, is this really happening to us? No First Responders were sent to help us either.”
Local [parish councillor Heather Morris received a letter from AEDdonate, which states that at the time of the call the defibrillator was live and available on the system. Part of the letter said: “The defib has been used on previous occasions without any issues. AEDdonate, the company that operate the defibrillator, have been contacted and they have advised that their records show that the device was live at the time the 999 calls were made and that the device is registered with WMAS.
“This was very distressing for the family and must not be allowed to happen again."
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise to the family for the time it took to get to him. The ambulance service relies on each part of the health and social care system working together so that our ambulances can get to patients in the community quickly.
“Sadly, the pressures we are seeing in health and social care lead to long hospital handover delays with our crews left caring for patients that need admitting to hospital rather than responding to the next call.
“The result is that our crews are delayed reaching patients. We are working incredibly hard with all of our NHS and social care partners to prevent these delays, looking at new ways to safely hand over patients quickly so that our crews can respond more rapidly and save more lives.
“The Trust is investigating why we were not able to provide the caller with the access code to the defib at the Memorial Hall. This is something we take very seriously and will do everything we can to avoid this happening again.
“The family have contacted the service to raise a complaint, and we will report back to them with our findings once the investigation is complete.”
