Retired teacher dies waiting 2 hours for ambulance

A 73 year old Hartlepool man who waited two hours for an ambulance, died on his bathroom floor of a cardiac arrest a Coroner heard recently.

Retired special needs teacher William Gouldburn collapsed at home last April following shoulder surgery days earlier. 

Mr Gouldburn had complained earlier of feeling unwell to his wife Pamela and had been visited by a doctor who could not find anything seriously wrong with him.

He collapsed later that morning and at 10.20am, an ambulance was called as Mr Gouldburn was unable to move.  Despite this, an ambulance was allocated a 60 minute response time and not coded as a red emergency.

Following seven desperate calls to 999 and more than an hour and a half later, St. John Ambulance volunteers who were not qualified as paramedics arrived.

Realising the situation was more serious they called for back-up and a rapid response vehicle and ambulance were on hand with an eight minute response time. 

At a two day inquest, Hartlepool Coroner Malcolm Donnelly heard that paramedics tried desperately to save Mr Gouldburn's life for a further ten minutes before he was pronounced dead.

The Coroner branded Mr Gouldburn's death as 'a sad consequence of a lack of ambulances'. 

The inquest ruled that the retired teacher died of natural causes from his underlying heart condition although the Coroner went on to conclude that the death was aggravated by a 'lack of timely and appropriate medical intervention".

If you or a member of your family has suffered at the hands of medical negligence, call us on 0800 811844 or email our team at compensation@mellorhargreaves.co.uk to discuss a claim.

Mellor Hargreaves Ltd

Medical Negligence Solicitors

Oldham, Manchester, National

Tel: 0800 811 844