Apology for delay after 102-year-old's death

Gordon Wedgewood, 102, died in hospital six days after a fall in February 2024

Health services have apologised to the family of a 102-year-old man who died in hospital days after waiting eight hours for an ambulance following a fall.

An inquest in Truro, Cornwall, heard an ambulance was called after Gordon Wedgewood, who had dementia, COPD, cancer and was almost blind, fell at about 23:30 GMT on 20 February 2024.

Another call was made a few hours later - at about 02:00 the next day - when the family was told it was "a busy night" - an ambulance arrived at 07:30.

His family told the coroner they did not blame the South Western Ambulance Trust for the delay and said a lack of social care packages meant ambulances were left sitting outside A&E departments for "hours on end".

In a joint statement after the inquest, the NHS in Cornwall and the ambulance service said they were "sorry for the unacceptable delay in the care that Mr Wedgwood received".

"We would like to extend our sincere condolences to his family," it said.

The senior coroner for Cornwall, Andrew Cox, said he had written to previous health secretaries about the problems in the county with ambulance delays.

He said without the ambulance delay, Mr Wedgwood's fractured femur could have been treated sooner, but it was the fall which ultimately caused Mr Wedgewood's death.

Working to improve

Mr Wedgewood had surgery on the fracture three days later, but he soon declined and died on 26 February, the inquest heard.

The coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

The statement said: "Delays in emergency care are not something we want any of our patients to experience and our teams are working incredibly hard to make improvements so that everyone can access the right care when they need it."

The NHS in Cornwall said it had made significant changes by increasing access to alternative community services.

It said this would help reduce the need for hospital admission, free up ambulances to respond more quickly and ensure the hospital could focus on people who needed faster access to emergency care.