95-year-old died after four-hour NHS wait

A CORONER has warned of the potential for future deaths after a 95-year-old woman died while waiting almost four hours in an ambulance queue outside a hospital.

Lilly Baxandall, 95, a former British Airways catering supervisor, could not be admitted to Glan Clwyd Hospital, Bodelwyddan, North Wales, which at one point had 13 ambulances parked unable to admit patients, Ruthin Coroner’s Court heard.

While expert witness evidence said her death was not caused by the delay in her admission, John Gittins, Coroner for North Wales East and Central said the problem of ambulances waiting outside hospitals due to bedblocking should not be allowed to become “the norm”.

He added: “There’s a very real and significant danger future deaths will occur and there’s a danger of potential culpability that goes beyond concerns I recognise, be they of a civil or criminal nature, in terms of gross negligence manslaughter.”

Glan Clwyd Hospital, which is in special measures, was put on “red alert” when Miss Baxandall was admitted, because it did not have enough beds and staff to treat patients and two neighbouring hospitals that would normally help were also struggling to cope, the inquest heard.

The spinster, who drove ambulances in the Second World War before working in London and retiring to North Wales, fell at her Abergele bungalow on September 1 2014, which caused a deep clot on her brain. The coroner said he would write to the Welsh Assembly, the health board and the Welsh Ambulance Service.