Ambulance Services : Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust

Mrs A complained about the late arrival of an ambulance, which led to the sad death of her daughter, Mrs B, at her home. She was also concerned about the attitude of the attending paramedic and the Trust’s failure to respond to her concerns about that in its complaint response.

The Trust had accepted that it had incorrectly prioritised an emergency call. However, it concluded that the sad outcome would have been the same even if the call had been prioritised correctly and a rapid response vehicle had arrived sooner, given the specialist treatment that Mrs B had required for her condition.

The Ombudsman decided, having obtained clinical advice, not to investigate that issue, as the earlier arrival of the rapid response vehicle would not have affected the sad outcome.

The Ombudsman determined that the Trust had failed to respond to Mrs A’s concerns about the paramedic’s attitude. The Ombudsman sought and obtained the Trust’s agreement to provide Mrs A with a formal written response to those concerns within 3 months.