Student nurse could have survived if ambulance had arrived sooner, says coroner

Updated

A student nurse who died after waiting almost five hours for an ambulance could have been saved if she had got to hospital sooner, a coroner has ruled.

Lisa Day, 27, a type 1 diabetic, fell severely ill on September 7 last year and spent the day vomiting blood and complaining of a headache and stomach pains, St Pancras Coroner's Court heard.

London Ambulance Service was struggling to cope with "extreme demand" and did not have enough ambulances to send to patients, the court heard.

An ambulance eventually arrived at 10.30pm after Miss Day suffered a cardiac arrest and fell unconscious. She was taken to hospital but never regained consciousness and died five days later from a lack of oxygen to the brain stem.

Coroner Mary Hassell said: "The reason for the approximate four and a half hour delay in an ambulance attending was because demand outstripped capacity.

"If Lisa had received definitive hospital care before she suffered a cardiac arrest in the evening of September 7, the likelihood is she would have survived."

Advertisement