NHS cutbacks blamed for death of great-grandmother in ambulance queue

At one stage 12 operational ambulances had been outside the department (ShelleyC28/Flickr/Creative Commons)

The family of a grandmother who died in an ambulance as it waited in a queue outside hospital have blamed “cutbacks” to the Welsh NHS for her death.

Sonia Powell, 73, died in an ambulance outside the Morriston Hospital in Swansea on Wednesday afternoon after being rushed to the emergency department from nearby Neath Port Talbot Hospital, having suffered a suspected heart attack.

The hospital and Mrs Powell’s family have presented conflicting accounts of the minutes leading up to her death.

In a statement, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) said that Mrs Powell’s ambulance had arrived at 15.04, that she was seen by a doctor in the ambulance at 15.07, and that a doctor had been with her until she died at 15.40.

However, Kim Thompson, Mrs Powell’s granddaughter has said that a doctor arrived “only five minutes” before her grandmother died, on a tragic day for the family which also saw Mrs Powell’s sister Cheryl Davies die at a local hospice, aged 64.

ABMU said that the hospital’s emergency department was experiencing a “busy day”, and admitted that at one stage 12 operational ambulances had been outside the department, although not all were carrying patients.

Mrs Powell, from Banwen in the Neath Valley, was a mother of five, a grandmother of 14 and a great-grandmother of 14.

She had been admitted to Neath Port Talbot hospital on Monday but doctors there transferred her to the Morriston’s cardiac unit after she suffered a suspected heart attack and fluid on the lungs.

Her granddaughter Gemma Evans said her grandmother had “at least” deserved a bed in hospital in her last moments.

“We blame the cutbacks to the health service that has resulted in all of the ambulances having to wait,” she said.

ABMU said it offered its “sincere condolences” to the family for what it called a “tragic day”.

“The Health Board is reviewing all aspects of what happened and we are currently discussing these with the family,” they said.

Welsh health minister Mark Drakeford admitted to Assembly Members that the performance of ambulance services was “not where we would like it to be”.

He told the Assembly’s Health Committee that the NHS in Wales was “a system under pressure” but said this was the case across the UK and insisted the health service in Wales showing “remarkable resilience”.

Health spending in Wales was cut by one per cent in the three years to 2013 – the only of the home nations to have cut funding for health. As well as pressures on A&E, it has also seen large increases in waiting times for routine operations.