Woman's heart stopped for five minutes in A&E after ambulance failed to show for three hours

[dutchman]

Her boyfriend was forced to drive her to hospital as an ambulance didn't arrive



A 37-year-old woman whose heart stopped for five minutes after a cardiac arrest has told how her boyfriend had to drive her to hospital after they waited three hours for an ambulance. Natalie McMorran, 37, woke in the middle of the night with chest pains and, believing she was having a heart attack, her partner called 999.

The call handler logged the call, but when an ambulance didn't turn up after two-and-a-half hours, Natalie's boyfriend Thomas Tapping drove her to A&E at Coventry's University Hospital, she said. Minutes after arriving, she suffered a cardiac arrest in the waiting room, and her heart stopped for a full five minutes before she was resuscitated.

The former betting shop worker said she spent a week in intensive care and then spent another week in the critical care unit (CCU),and investigations are ongoing into the cause of her arrest. She said she had no pre-existing heart condition, but has since been diagnosed with coronary heart disease and had two stents fitted.

The pair, from Rugby, complained to University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire. Natalie said: "I was scared - I knew something was seriously wrong with me and the ambulance kept trying to brush it off.

“We waited two-and-a-half hours for an ambulance before Thomas decided to take me to the hospital instead. We waited half an hour in A&E once we got there and I couldn’t get comfy – I had to lie myself on the floor in this little corridor and people kept coming over and having a go at me.

“I begged triage for a bed and threw up in the room but they still sent me back out. I don’t remember much after that as once I was back in the waiting room I had a fit and then a cardiac arrest.

“I was resuscitated after five minutes and moved to intensive care where I stayed for a week before being moved to CCU. The doctor said he wished I’d been seen sooner.

“I feel like I’ve been let down and now I get out of breath just going to the car. It could have been dealt with better and if they’d picked up on it sooner it might have been different.”

Natalie began to complain of chest pains at 1am on March 22. She explained: “I had a funny turn earlier on in the day and thought I was just a bit light-headed.

“I went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 1am feeling like I’d been hit with a brick in-between my shoulders. I was getting really hot and would go to get some fresh air by the door to cool down before getting really cold and needing to heat up under a blanket."

Thomas called 999 and explained what was happening but was told they would need to wait, he said. Natalie's symptoms began to ease off and she fell asleep – but quickly woke up again and found herself throwing up and suffering from an extreme temperature, she said.

At around 3am, Thomas drove her to hospital and claims they waited for another 30 minutes until they were seen by the triage nurse who told her to go back in to the waiting room. Just 20 minutes later, she suffered a cardiac arrest in the waiting room and her heart stopped for five minutes before she was revived by doctors on scene.

She was moved to intensive care for two weeks and had even been told she could need a heart transplant - but didn't require the surgery in the end. She said she had to quit her job and has to take 12 tablets a day to manage her symptoms.

Now, she’s been left with just 25 per cent of her heart function and says things would have been different if she’d been seen earlier.

Natalie said: “I’m just really annoyed that they didn’t take me seriously and palmed me off back to the waiting room. It was a really big rollercoaster ride the whole time I was there – it was really touch and go and they told my family they didn’t know if I would make it through.”