Warwickshire mother calls for action on ambulance delays after son dies

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A mother has called for ambulance response times to be improved after her son died from a cardiac arrest



Jamie Rees, 18, from Rugby, in Warwickshire, was left waiting more than 17 minutes for an ambulance on New Year's Day.

"We have been told it was due to a sudden change in the rhythm of Jamie's heartbeat," said Naomi Rees-Issitt.

West Midlands Ambulance service (WMAS) said it had sent the nearest available ambulance.

Jamie had returned home from watching fireworks with his friends when he suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest.

The ambulance service says it has targets to reach all cardiac arrest patients in seven minutes, and 90% of them should be reached within 15 minutes.

The crew reached Jamie 17 minutes and 33 seconds after the first call.

"He didn't deserve for this to happen," Ms Rees-Issitt said.

"I can't imagine how soul-destroying it is for that ambulance crew who reached Jamie after 17 minutes, knowing they were never going to save him."

WMAS said in the hour before it had received the first 999 call to Jamie, there had been five other emergency calls in the Rugby area, which would have meant any ambulances based in the town would already have been with a patient.

The service has provided the family with a timeline of events and sent a copy of the patient report form.

It added a further investigation report would also be provided.

"Our thoughts remain firstly with Jamie's family as they come to terms with what has happened," it said.

"Long hospital handover delays impact our ability to get to patients quickly, which is why all NHS partners are working together to reduce them."

The 18-year-old, who was training as a plumber, signed up to the organ donor register aged 16. Five of his organs were donated following his death.

The family has also set up an online fundraising page to pay for a defibrillator in his memory.

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Bereaved mum says she feels 'failed' by Coventry hospital after death of beloved son



A bereaved mum has said she feels "failed" by Coventry University Hospital whose representatives, she claimed, "couldn't be bothered to meet face-to-face" following the death of her son. Naomi Rees-Issitt, 43, lost her son Jamie Rees, 18, on January 5 last year following him going into cardiac arrest at a friend's house on New Year's Eve.

Jamie, who had been watching fireworks that evening, suffered from oxygen starvation to his brain after waiting over 17 minutes for an ambulance. Although a police officer arrived on the scene first, he did not have access to a defibrillator and the nearest machine at Ashlawn School, two minutes from where Jamie collapsed, was locked inside the building.

Ms Rees spoke at the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) board meeting on Wednesday where she has presented several times since establishing OurJay, and praised the service for its ongoing support. Ms Rees said this contrasted with what she claimed was a lack of care shown by the Coventry hospital which she had contacted following the outcome of the patient investigation into Jamie's death.

A key point showed the time taken to handover patient care from the ambulance service to the hospital was partly to blame for the fatality. Ms Rees told the LDRS: "The ambulance service basically had its hands tied because even though they're the frontline staff and they have ambulances sitting outside hospital, the main reason for that is because they can't transfer the patient into the A&E department."

She said the family contacted the hospital because they wanted their take on the situation and more information about what leads to delays, but claimed they didn't hear back until over a year after Jamie's death. The hospital invited Ms Rees and the Foundation to a Microsoft Teams meeting where two representatives offered them the opportunity to come in and meet staff, she added.

However, Ms Rees said the family didn't hear back and after Ms Rees's local councillor contacted the hospital on her behalf, they were merely offered another Teams meeting. Ms Rees said: "Well, you know, it's all very well having the Teams calls, but how are we ever going to make any changes if people can't even take the time out of their day to meet with the family of somebody like Jamie face-to-face with all the work we try to do to help out in the NHS?

"But yeah, we feel a little bit failed by that point. I think that's why I mentioned it because we have been so well supported by West Midlands Ambulance.

"Even though they've apologised and admitted to the failure, we just find it shocking that they are the only organisation that has stepped up and made that apology whereas University Hospital Coventry can't even really be bothered to meet face-to-face."

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Bereaved mum calls for upgraded A&E services



A bereaved mother has challenged general election candidates in Rugby to push for upgraded A&E services in the town.

Naomi Rees-Issitt lost her son Jamie in 2022 after he died from a cardiac arrest.

Jamie Rees was left waiting more than 17 minutes for an ambulance on New Year's Day.

The Hospital of St Cross only has an urgent care centre and no ambulances are stationed in the town.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust is exploring options to offer doctor-led provision there.

Ms Rees-Issitt has been calling for the return of a full A&E department to the hospital and said she had been supported by Rugby’s former MP Mark Pawsey.

But while she appreciated those efforts, she told BBC CWR she wanted Rugby’s next MP to “stop talking and start doing”.

In interviews with the BBC, five candidates standing to be Rugby’s next MP pledged to push for improved health services at St Cross.

The Green candidate Becca Stevenson said she would be “pushing hard to make sure there’s investment in St Cross and to improve the A&E facilities”.

But she said the return of a full A&E department at St Cross was “not going to happen overnight”.

Ms Stevenson said the Greens would put more money into the NHS by making sure “people with the most wealth are paying more tax”.

The Reform UK candidate Devenne Kedward said her top priority would be to “put pressure on these who make the decisions”.

She said there was “huge waste” in the NHS and money could be saved to pay for better services in Rugby.

“If they slimmed down their inflated management structure, we could have doctor-led urgent care,” she said.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Dickson said his party could influence the next government over the direction of the NHS.

He said the NHS needed a plan to improve health services in Rugby, as if he was elected, he would hold care providers to account.

To get better care for patients, he said, “you have to talk to each other”.

Labour’s candidate John Slinger said it was “a priority of mine to fight for more resources at our brilliant hospital in St Cross”.

When asked what his plan was, he said: “The plan is to get a doctor-led urgent care service.”

He said he knew the local NHS trust was undertaking a review of urgent care at St Cross.

The Conservative candidate Yousef Damesh said he had been making this call “years ago and the other parties are only just joining that political bandwagon”.

He said he had been putting pressure on the local NHS trust to bring a doctor-led service back to St Cross.

Mr Damesh said that would be a “first step”, but added there needed to be “structural change in the NHS” rather than just money more to improve patient care.

West Midlands Ambulance service (WMAS) did not comment.