Pensioner died after three-hour wait for ambulance that never came

Janet Lyon called 999 when she was struggling to breathe but wasn’t judged an emergency case

A pensioner died three hours after calling for an ambulance that was never dispatched despite her saying she was having difficulty breathing.
Janet Lyon, 67, from Leicestershire, called 999 on 27 December when she was struggling to breathe, but after it was determined she had an urgent problem that was not life-threatening the call handler told to go to a walk-in centre or see her GP.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) subsequently apologised but found the 999 call was handled appropriately, adding that the service was experiencing “high demand” at the time.
Ms Lyon’s daughter Katie Keating lodged a formal complaint with EMAS and said she was “enraged” at the response.
Mrs Keating, from Nottingham, told the BBC: “I am totally flabbergasted that they have not admitted responsibility. That was a completely preventable death. She was not given a chance to have any treatment.”
Ms Lyon’s death certificate said she died from pneumonia.
Mrs Keating added: “Her lungs were full of fluid and she inwardly drowned in those three hours. She passed out because she could not breathe.”
Ms Lyon, from Coalville, had Type 2 diabetes and asthma. On Boxing Day she had become ill with the flu, and had walked into her son’s room early the next day to tell him she couldn’t breathe and asked for an ambulance.
Mrs Keating said her brother would have driven their mother to A&E himself if the call handler had advised it.
The mother-of-two added: “She died three hours later with her phone in her hand trying to get an appointment with a GP.
“The last thing my brother said to her was: ‘Have you got through to the doctors yet?’”
She added: “They should have sent an ambulance – she needed oxygen. She was right to call an ambulance – that was her gut instinct.”
EMAS told the family in a letter that Ms Lyon’s call to the service had been “correctly coded” as requiring a category 3 response.
The ambulance service said Ms Lyon was advised to make her own way to a walk-in centre, urgent care centre or contact her GP, and to call 999 if her symptoms worsened or changed.
When a second call was made at 8:28am to say Ms Lyon was not breathing, it was classed as a category 1 call and paramedics were there in two minutes.
The letter added: “At the time of the 999 call our service was experiencing a high demand for emergency responses.
“The caller was correctly advised, via a predetermined script, that from the information gathered this was not an immediate life-threatening emergency and we would not be sending an emergency ambulance.”
Susannah Ashton, Divisional Director for Leicestershire at EMAS said: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to Ms Lyon’s family and we are deeply sorry that we were unable to get to this patient sooner.
“Patient care and safety is our priority. I am sorry that on this occasion the service provided to Ms Lyon was not to the standard expected.
“We are currently in contact with Ms Lyon’s family through our Patient Advice and Liaison Service and are fully investigating the reason for this delay.”