Driving instructor dies after falling unwell during lesson, as 999 told his student there were no ambulances

A DRIVING instructor died of a cardiac arrest after 999 were called three times and no ambulances were available. David Mann, from Worcester, suddenly fell ill during an afternoon lesson in January with a 17-year-old student, an inquest heard. David Mann suddenly fell ill while carrying out a driving lesson, an inquest heard Credit: Facebook David died in January from a cardiac arrest Credit: Facebook She called 999 but was told that no ambulance could attend because they were stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients. She called her mother, an off-duty GP, who quickly attended the scene, and two further calls were made to emergency services, to no avail. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! They then called David’s wife, Elaine, and she drove him to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, but roadworks and traffic delayed the journey. The off-duty doctor travelled with Elaine and David, having made a fourth 999 call to say they were en route. The inquest heard that David suffered a cardiac arrest when they arrived at hospital. Staff carried out chest compressions but did not give him a shock with a defibrillator, in accordance with current guidance. The Worcestershire coroner concluded that David probably would not have died had an ambulance arrived on time and if he had been defibrillated. They have also written to the health secretary and NHS England to try to prevent future deaths. Most read in Health West Midlands Ambulance Service said when David was taken ill, the service had been experiencing “significant delays offloading patients at hospital” and was working with hospitals to reduce this. According to latest NHS data, the service has the worst hospital handover delays in England, with almost 17 per cent of handovers exceeding 60 minutes. Speaking to the BBC, Elaine said she was in “total shock” at the inquest’s findings and that David’s life “has just been cut too short too soon”. She said: “I don’t blame the paramedics, it’s not them. What is government doing about it? What is NHS England doing about it? It’s just awful that people are being let down and losing their lives.” She added: “He’s just been badly let down. Not just because of the ambulance, but because of the treatment at A&E as well. He should still be here.” A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman told Sun Health: “Our thoughts remain with the family of David Mann at this difficult time. “As the Coroner pointed out in his report, at the time of the incident, the Trust was experiencing significant delays offloading patients at hospital. “In total, we lost 2,312 hours that day, the equivalent of taking 192 ambulances off the road. “In addition, despite making over 250 specific requests to hospitals to take patient handovers due to outstanding high priority cases, these were refused more than 200 times. “The West Midlands continues to have the worst hospital handover delays in the country, which means some patients wait much longer for a response than we would want. “There is a direct correlation between hospital handover delays and our ability to get to patients in the community quickly. “We will continue to work with our partners in hospitals to find ways of reducing the handover delays so that we can get to patients even faster than we do at the moment.” Dr Jules Walton, chief medical officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, also told Sun Health: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with Mr Mann’s family. “They have lost someone they loved, and we are deeply sorry that the care we provided to him was not the care he should have received. “We offer his family our sincere and unreserved apology. We know that an apology cannot change what happened or lessen the loss they continue to live with. “We accept that there were failings in Mr Mann’s care. We have listened carefully to the evidence heard during the inquest and to the concerns raised about the care he received. “Since Mr Mann’s death, we have reviewed the treatment he received and have made changes, including strengthening the training provided to our clinical teams caring for patients who present with similar symptoms. “We are also continuing work to improve ambulance handover times and reduce delays for patients attending our emergency departments. “Where the Coroner’s findings identify any further action we need to take, we will do so. “Nothing we do now can undo what happened to Mr Mann. “Our responsibility to his family is to acknowledge where his care fell short, and to our patients to do everything we can to reduce the risk of the same failings happening again.” According to NHS England data released earlier this month, approximately 16.9 per cent of hospital handovers carried out by West Midlands Ambulance Service took over 60 minutes in July, the worst of all trusts. The national average for England was 6.5 per cent. Some 33 per cent of handovers took over 30 minutes, the third worst of all 11 trusts. The national average was 24.9 per cent. The Department of Health said: “Our deepest sympathies are with David Mann’s loved ones. “Far too many patients have suffered unacceptable delays for urgent care services in previous years and in far too many cases, that has led to tragic consequences. “So even though last winter saw the best performance on ambulance and A&E waits for almost half a decade, we know there is much more to be done and that’s why we are sending in teams of experts to struggling areas, including in the Midlands, to identify why these problems are occurring and take urgent action to address them.” Comment now