An 82-year-old WOMAN has died after spending 15 hours lying on the floor of her home waiting for an ambulance.

A coroner said it showed the prioritization system 999 medical calls was no longer fit for purpose,

The first call was made at 5.13pm after Shirley Hughes collapsed at her home in Ruthin, Denbighshire, in June.

But the ambulance service was busy and, although her case was upgraded under the priority medical dispatch system, no help arrived until 7:48 a.m. the next day.

She died in hospital sepsis four days later.

An investigation found Ms Hughes should have waited up to 20 minutes after the priority upgrade at 4.13am – but she waited another 3.5 hours.

Coroner John Gittins said: “This raises the question of whether the MPDS system remains fit for purpose. »

“For many years, I and other coroners have raised concerns about the so-called”ambulance delays'”.

In a prevention of future death report, he said coroners’ concerns about ambulance delays were increasing.

He added: “I fear lives are in danger. »

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