Wife dies after 2-hour 999 wait in the street

A WOMAN died after waiting almost two hours for an ambulance after she collapsed in the street.

Seven increasingly desperate 999 calls were made before paramedics arrived to take Aziza Bano Bhatti, 57, to hospital.

But by then it was too late. The housewife suffered a heart attack in the ambulance and was pronounced dead shortly after she arrived at hospital – almost two hours after the initial emergency call.

Last night it emerged that her family had made a formal complaint to ambulance chiefs amid fears that Mrs Bhatti could have been saved if crews had arrived sooner.

An investigation has also been launched into the incident in Liverpool on Sunday evening.

At the opening of an inquest into her death yesterday, coroner Andre Rebello was told that Mrs Bhatti was found collapsed close to her home in Wavertree, Liverpool, by a passerby at around 6.35pm. The helper called for an ambulance twice – firstly at about 6.50pm and secondly because they were worried the paramedics were taking too long.

A passing police community support officer, who was on patrol, also came to assist Mrs Bhatti, who was originally from Pakistan and suffered from a serious heart condition and diabetes. The court heard she was put in the recovery position and was semi-conscious and breathing while she waited for help to arrive.

The PCSO then called a further five times to the ambulance control room before a rapid response vehicle arrived at 8.02pm.

It was another 38 minutes – a full 110 minutes after the first call – that an ambulance finally arrived and took Mrs Bhatti to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

But she suffered a heart attack and never recovered.

Coroner Andre Rebello said Mrs Bhatti’s health problems were the ‘probable cause’ of her collapse, but admitted that the family would be worried she could have survived if the ambulance had arrived sooner.

‘What we don’t know is whether an ambulance arriving earlier could have facilitated appropriate treatment that could have made a difference,’ the coroner said.

‘Heart disease and diabetes could be fatal at any time, but clearly there has to be an investigation to find out why it was given the priority it was.

‘The family will be concerned to find out if an ambulance arriving earlier would have made a difference.’

Ambulance calls are categorised as either red or green, with red being the most serious and having target response times of eight minutes. Green incidents have response targets of between 30 minutes and four hours.

A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service confirmed that an investigation had begun into the incident but said they were unable to comment further.