South East Coast Ambulance Service buys second-hand ambulances

An ambulance service criticised by a coroner over the death of an elderly woman has bought 30 second-hand ambulances to cope with winter demand.

Margaret Stemp, 91, was left lying on the floor for seven hours last December after phoning for an ambulance following a fall.

The performance of South East Coast Ambulance (Secamb) was criticised by the coroner.

Secamb said it had been struggling with winter pressures.

It said the second-hand ambulances would not be used for emergencies but would free up its existing ambulances to respond to urgent calls.

It also plans to purchase 101 new ambulances over three years and recruit 300 new staff.

Latest news from the South East

West Sussex Coroner Penelope Schofield wrote to Secamb following the inquest into Mrs Stemp's death, criticising the "missed opportunities for medical intervention".

She said she believed there was a "risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken".

The inquest heard Mrs Stemp and her 97-year-old sister fell at about 16:00 GMT on 27 December, but after calling the ambulance service waited seven hours before Sussex Police were asked to intervene.

Police then advised the ambulance service they should still visit, but the inquest heard the sisters had no contact with Secamb until 02:00 the following morning, when they received a welfare phone call.

Margaret's sister said the pair were in bed and needed no further assistance. Secamb then closed the call.

Later that day a carer found both sisters had fallen again, and Margaret had died. Her sister was taken to hospital.

In its response to the coroner, Secamb's chief executive Darren Mochrie said he was "very sorry" the trust had not provided "the response we aspire to".

"As an immediate measure, we have purchased 30 second-hand ambulances so far this year to help us deal with the anticipated winter pressures," he said.

Mr Mochrie said Secamb staff who take calls from the public had received more training and the procedure for standing down an ambulance had been changed.

A Secamb spokesman said the second-hand ambulances would be equipped for handling non-life threatening calls.

"These are currently being converted with the aim of them being operational before Christmas," the spokesman said.

"We have co-operated with the coroner throughout this sad case and our thoughts are with Ms Stemp's family. We had already carried out a thorough internal investigation, and implemented a number of recommendations arising from it," the spokesman added.

The service was placed into special measures in 2016 and retained that status when inspectors ruled it had failed to improve sufficiently a year later.

The trust also came under fire when a report exposed a culture of bullying, toxic atmospheres and sexual grooming.

Earlier this week, the East of England Ambulance Service, which has also been criticised for delays in responding to 999 calls, confirmed it had introduced a policy of asking ambulances to attend a second emergency on the way to hospital.