Norwich: Patient dies in ambulance after 30-minute A&E wait

A patient died from a cardiac arrest after waiting in an ambulance for 30 minutes outside a hospital's emergency department.

The person, who was not identified, died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on Friday night.

A statement from the hospital said the patient had a suspected infection and was assessed and treated by a doctor in the ambulance.

The hospital said: "Our deepest condolences are with the family."

In the statement, the hospital said Friday was "a very busy night for our hospital".

It said: "We were alerted by the ambulance service of a patient arriving by ambulance at our emergency department with a suspected infection.

"On arrival the patient was immediately assessed and treated by an emergency doctor, but after 30 minutes went into cardiac arrest and was transferred from the ambulance to our resuscitation unit for further treatment where they sadly died."

The hospital said its accident and emergency department was still "very busy".

Last month, a patient suffered a fatal heart attack in the back of an ambulance after it queued for more than two hours outside James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, and a patient died in an ambulance outside Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge after waiting for more than an hour.

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