Scots patient dies of heart attack after waiting six hours for ambulance

dailyrecord.co.uk:

NHS Lothian bosses have apologised to the family of a patient who had to wait six hours on an ambulance and then suffered a fatal heart attack.The region’s health board has been reprimanded despite initially denying any failings had occurred, after the patient’s child took their complaint to a government watchdog.

An investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) found ‘unreasonable delays’ in administering antibiotics to the individual, referred to as ‘A’ in a report, who endured an excruciating 360-minute wait.Alison MacDonald, nurse director at NHS Lothian, apologised to the patient’s family.

She added: “We accept the report from the Ombudsman and are working through the recommendations.”After being admitted to hospital for catheter blockage, the patient began to show signs of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition, the report said.

Further examination found that A needed urgent specialist treatment at a different facility in the region.However, it took “approximately six hours” for an ambulance to arrive.