Man dies after being told no ambulances available

Ken Burton, from Cannock, Staffordshire, died after a heart attack

An elderly man died from a heart attack after being told there were no ambulances available to take him to hospital.

Ken Burton, from Cannock, Staffordshire, went to an emergency GP appointment on 31 January where he was told he needed an ambulance.

But 999 operators said it would be several hours before paramedics got to him. The 82-year-old died hours later while his son David was driving him to hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was under significant pressure that day due to long handover times at hospitals.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Mr Burton said his dad, a lifelong Birmingham City fan, would not want it to happen to anyone else.

“He had a big heart and all he would have wanted was a fighting chance,” he added.

Ken Burton's son David said his dad would have wanted a "fighting chance"

Mr Burton said his dad went to the GP at about 14:00 GMT on 31 January and the doctor called for an ambulance but was told there would be a four-hour wait.

A second 999 call was made by the family, who were told an ambulance would be several hours and advised to make their own way to hospital.

Mr Burton said he was called at about 15:00 GMT by his father’s wife, who told him they needed to go to hospital.

But shortly after he picked him up, Mr Burton said his dad suffered a cardiac arrest.

He called 999 immediately and began to give CPR to his dad, who was unresponsive in the passenger seat.

Ken Burton was a lifelong Birmingham City fan

He said a police car arrived about 10 to 20 minutes later, five minutes before the first of three ambulances showed up.

“But it was too late because it must have been 20 minutes since my dad had his last breath," Mr Burton said.

He added that his initial feeling of frustration turned to anger as he believed his father would not have wanted to die in a car at the side of the road.

“He should have had the care that he needed at that time and that hasn’t been given,” he said.

“That’s a failure of the services that are there to support all of us.”

'Huge frustration'

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it lost about 970 ambulance hours on 31 January due to delays in offloading patients at hospitals.

This was the equivalent of taking 81 ambulances off the road, the organisation added.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Murray MacGregor, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, agreed with the family that it was a failure on the service’s part and the rest of the NHS.

“It’s a matter of huge frustration for our staff. They want to go out and help people," he said.

"Many of them hearing this story will know all too well how difficult it is for them as well as the families when they come across patients who have been waiting many hours to get an ambulance."