NHS: Couple 'let down' after long wait for ambulance before death

Jeanette Carpenter’s husband Richard, 71, died at their Bromham home while waiting several hours for an ambulance, on the night of December 1, 2021.

An inquest at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court concluded Richard’s death, caused by a haemothorax triggered by complications from a recent heart surgery, was an accident.

The inquest heard there were “unavoidable delays” in an ambulance reaching Richard due to the high volume of emergency calls received by the service that night.

But Senior Coroner David Ridley indicated he would be writing to the government to raise concerns over continued long waiting times for patients.

Jeanette told this paper she is glad the ongoing issue is being highlighted and hopes it will spark changes to the health service.

Richard Carpenter (Image: Jeanette Carpenter)

She said: “I was quite pleased with the outcome, and the fact he’s raising awareness, because I’ve thought all along the bed blocking needs sorting out to release ambulances.

“When we call 999 we expect to get an ambulance, the NHS is broken and I think it needs shaking up.

“Unless more coroners do this it’s just going to be a drop in the ocean, but I hope it’s a step forward and they’ll sort this mess out.

“You can’t afford to be ill and need emergency care in this country.”

On the night of Richard’s death, Jeanette called 999 three times but did not receive an ambulance for five and a half hours.

She also waited three and a half hours for a call where her husband was clinically assessed.

Jeanette labelled the response “inadequate” and believes she and her husband were let down.

She added: “I think he was massively let down that night and I was as well… I needed someone to help me.

“If they had got an ambulance quicker he had every possibility of receiving care and he may have even survived.

“I know the outcome may not have been different, but surely something could’ve been done in the five and a half hours it took him to die.”

Richard Carpenter (Image: Jeanette Carpenter)

In a statement read out at the inquest, Jeanette said her husband of 47 years was her soulmate and best friend.

Afterwards, she told this paper his legacy would be his “zest for life” and ability to interact with others.

“He was great fun”, said Jeanette.

“A lovely, kind, happy man who loved life and had an answer for everything in a funny way.

“He had a good serious side and business sense… he loved living here in Bromham.

“Richard was just great company, that’s his legacy, and what’s helped me through the grief is talking about his antics and jokes.”

South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust did not respond to an approach for comment.

At the inquest, representatives from the trust revealed “a huge amount of work” has gone into lowering wait times.

Despite this, an ongoing “bottleneck” remains when handing patients over at hospital, preventing the service from consistently achieving a “pre-pandemic response standard.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our sympathies are with Mr Carpenter’s wife, family and friends in this tragic case.

“We respond to, and learn from, every prevention of future deaths report, and we are taking action to ensure the health and care system works closely together to tackle delayed discharge, including investing an additional £1 billion this year to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.

“In addition, we have seen significant improvements in ambulance response times this year – with average Category 2 response times in 2023/24 over 13 minutes faster than the previous year.”