Ambulance trust responsible for death of baby

Posted: August 21, 2013

Posted in: Medical Negligence NHS Claims Wrongful & Accidental Death 

17-week-old Bella Hellings’ parents blame the ambulance trust for the death of their child, after an ambulance took 26 minutes to reach the home following their 999 call. A report has found that the ambulance trust made a “significant number of operational errors” when handling the child’s case.

Bella’s mother, Amy Carter, phoned 999 in March, after realising that Bella was having a fit and had stopped breathing.  After an ambulance eventually arrived 26 minutes later, it proceeded to get lost on countless occasions during their return to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Ms. Carter blamed the fact that the ambulance took “too long” for the cause of her daughter’s death. 

Report is a “distressing” read for the family

The East of England Ambulance Service have presented a report to the family detailing what went wrong, which has not yet been publically released. The family’s solicitor, Sharon Allison, said that the report was a “distressing” read for the family.

National targets maintain that emergency response vehicles should reach at least 75% of patients in a life threatening condition within 8 minutes. Next month will see a full inquest into Bella’s death.

A statement by the East of England Ambulance Service said that they had carried out an internal investigation.  This revealed to them an urgent need for further employment: requiring more frontline staff, as well as more ambulances.  All of these contributory factors will “improve performance” within the trust.

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