Another 111 failure leads to retired NHS porter’s death
A GRANDFATHER died after NHS 111 call handlers failed to send him an ambulance three times even though he was coughing up vomit, an inquest heard.
Harry Gill, 72, passed away 20 minutes after a paramedic crew that was finally sent to his home was cancelled en route.
NHS 111 staff handled four calls from his wife over two days in June ‘appallingly’, the inquest at Blackburn Coroner’s Court was told.
Call handlers were said to have failed to send an ambulance to the normally ‘fit and healthy’ former NHS porter, from Accrington, Lancashire, on three occasions.
Mr Gill’s death is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the 111 helpline, which has been blamed for a rise in the number of emergency hospital admissions.
After the hearing, the pensioner’s stepson Peter Eastwood called for an in-depth review of the case. He said: ‘He was never as proud as when he got a job as a porter on the NHS in 1977 and then as a mortician. It’s a shame really that the service he fought for and supported and loved has let him down at the end.’
The hearing heard four calls from Mr Gill’s wife were ‘incorrectly processed’ by staff and an ambulance should have been sent within 20 minutes.
A post-mortem examination found he was vomiting because of hernias either side of his groin. During the long wait for help, the repeated vomiting and loss of fluid ‘placed a strain’ on his heart which led to a fatal heart attack.
When questioned about the calls, NHS 111 clinical quality and nurse lead Alison Neville-Ralph agreed they had been ‘appallingly handled’.
Coroner Michael Singleton ruled the 111 service ‘failed to respond appropriately such that medical treatment was not made available to him’.
He told Mrs Gill: ‘You sought medical help and advice and it’s a tragedy that was not forthcoming in the way that clearly it should have been.’