Julie Hurn, 43, died of a heart attack while waiting for an ambulance for more than two hours after calling 999 for chest pains, a court heard.
The mother-of-two died at her home in Attleborough, Norfolk, on June 25, 2022, after suffering a heart attack – a blood clot stopped her heart.
An inquest into her death at Norfolk Coroner’s Court heard it was likely she would have survived if she had received immediate treatment.
Professor Saul Myerson, a consultant cardiologist based at Oxford University, told the inquest that a quicker response would have improved his chances.
He said that although it was unlikely that his heart attack would have been prevented, if he had been in the hospital when it happened, his chances of survival would have been better.
Rajesh Logasundaram, who carried out a post-mortem examination, said: “An earlier 999 call would have made a significant difference to her chances of survival.”
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The court heard that she had initially phoned for an ambulance at 3.26pm after experiencing chest pains, with her call given category two status.
He called again about an hour later after he started vomiting, but it wasn’t until just before 5pm that his call was escalated.
A neighbor had phoned again to say she had gone into cardiac arrest and paramedics arrived at 5.14pm.
Ms Hurn, who worked as a contracts manager for Norfolk County Council, died at 5.48pm, 142 minutes after her first call to emergency services.
It was revealed this week that when the original call was made, 50 of the region’s ambulances were stuck outside Norfolk’s three main hospitals.
The incident occurred during a “black surge,” a phrase used to describe a period of acute demand for emergency services and acute hospitals.
Chris Hewitson, a specialist patient safety officer at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust, said Ms Hurn’s initial call was correctly classified.
But at that time there were also 50 pending calls with the same priority level.
He added that there were 19 ambulances stuck outside the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital alone.
Yvonne Blake, coroner for the Norfolk area, said: “The medical evidence we have heard so far is that if he had a cardiac arrest and received immediate treatment or was in hospital, given his age, it is more likely that she would have survived.
In a statement read to the court, her brother Gary Hambling said: “As a family, we believe the NHS has let us down.
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“The time it took to get an ambulance to her was unacceptable.”
Clare Gooch, a medical negligence solicitor from Switalskis, who is representing the family, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult time for Ms Hurn’s family who are still coming to terms with their loss.
“They now hope this inquest will help provide insight into the circumstances that led to his death.”
The investigation continues.
