Charity shop worker died after 90-minute wait for an ambulance
Service bosses apologised to family as it looks to reduce delays
THE family of a Birmingham woman who died following a long ambulance delay have called for Government action.
Jade Marie Griffiths-Jones was working at Northfield charity shop Scope on May 31 last year when she suddenly suffered sharp chest pains.
The 45-year-old, who was deputy manager at the second-hand store, called 999 at 1.33pm.
West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) categorised her call as ‘C2’, which should see a response time of around 18 minutes.
But Ms Griffiths-Jones, from Tamworth, made three more 999 calls before paramedics arrived at the shop at 3.07pm. The last call, made at 3.01pm, was categorised as a C1 call – for patients with life-threatening conditions.
Her cousin Jenna Louca said Ms Griffiths-Jones collapsed and suffered a heart attack while waiting for an ambulance.
A charity shop colleague, with the help of a customer, administered CPR before paramedics arrived and took her to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Ms Griffiths-Jones spent several days in hospital before losing her fight for life. Her official cause of death was recorded as hypoxicischaemic brain damage, cardiac arrest, diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease.
Ms Louca said: “The hospital staff were amazing. They did everything they could for her, but unfortunately she didn’t make it.
“She was on a ventilator and had showed signs of improvement before
getting worse again. Jade’s brain was basically dying because it was starved of oxygen.’’
She added: “I had a call in December from investigators at WMAS who said they had picked up Jade’s case as it had been highlighted as a huge failing. An inquest was held this month after the coroner reopened it.
“If the ambulance had turned up on time, she might not have had a heart attack. Or if she had, she would have been in hospital where it would have been better.”
Ms Louca described her cousin, an avid Birmingham City fan, as “selfless” and the “perfect person”.
“Her mother died in February last year and that left Jade’s younger brother alone in Skegness. Jade was straight up there to be by his side. She was his rock.
“I’m highlighting her story because I don’t want it to happen to anyone else. The Government needs to look at NHS delays properly. Something needs to be done.”
WMAS has apologised to Ms Griffiths-Jones’ family and offered its condolences. It says some patients in the region are waiting longer than it would like for paramedics to arrive due to long hospital handover delays.
The service lost around 250,000 hours of ambulance time in 2023-24 due to hospital handover delays. That was equivalent to around 60 12-hour shifts every day.
WMAS says it now takes fewer patients to hospital than it did five years ago. Less than 50% of call-outs result in patients being taken to an emergency department.
A WMAS spokesperson said: “Firstly, we would like to apologise to the family of Ms Griffiths-Jones for the delayed response and offer our condolences. Sadly, we’re seeing some patients wait longer than we would want for ambulances to arrive as a result of long hospital handover delays.
“If there are long hospital handover delays, with our crews left caring for patients that need admitting to hospital, they’re simply unable to respond to the next call – which can impact on the care of the patient in the community.
“We continue to work hard with our partners to find new ways to reduce these delays, so that our crews can respond more quickly and save more lives.”