Man's death 'possibly' caused by ambulance delays
Family handoutDelays in an ambulance reaching a grandfather whose oxygen machine failed during a power cut "possibly" contributed to his death.
Peter Coates, from Redcar, called 999 in March 2019 but an ambulance was unable to leave the station because the gates were jammed during the outage.
A second ambulance stopped to refuel on its way to the 62-year-old and when it arrived the crew could not find a safe with his home key.
Coroner Paul Appleton said delays possibly contributed to the death, as well as complications relating to chronic COPD with obesity as a secondary cause. The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said it was "truly sorry" for not getting there quicker.
The coroner recorded a narrative verdict.
Kellie Coates, 49, said it had been an "uphill struggle" to get the facts about her father's death.
"I feel like I did my dad proud and that's all I ever really wanted to do," she said.
"My dad had good days and bad days but he was taken away too early and we all know we would have had a few more years with him."
The grandfather would not have died if there had not been a power cut, Appleton said.
He also said he shared the family's concerns about a gap in ambulance response categories, which meant patients could not always be reached more quickly unless they were in "cardiac or respiratory arrest".
"This is a particular concern for patients who are alone at the time of calling 999, as should they enter into cardio respiratory arrest following the 999 call, they are then likely unable to update the ambulance service," he said.
"I intend to issue a prevention of future deaths report to NHS England as the body responsible."
NEAS deputy chief executive, Karen O'Brien, offered the family the organisation's "sincere condolences".
"We have made several changes to our processes since this happened, which have been considered during the inquest and which were acknowledged by the coroner during his detailed ruling in court today," she said.
