Inquest into the death of Mark Taylor, Sheffield Coroners Court, 5th September 2023

Scala were instructed by Medical Solicitors to assist them with the PR surrounding the Inquest into Mark’s death which was heard at Sheffield Coroners Court on Tuesday 5th September 2023. Mark’s widow, Carol, is bringing a claim for clinical negligence against the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS.

Mark Taylor, from Sheffield, was 62 years of age when he died on 18th October 2022 at Sheffield. It was lunchtime on the previous day, when Mark reported to his wife, Carole, that he was experiencing severe chest pains. She called for an ambulance, but rather than categorising the call as Category 1 emergency, the call hander recorded it as Category 2, and an ambulance did not arrive until 58 minutes later.

Legal PR specialist, Natalie Rodgers, a former solicitor and Member of the Chartered Institute of PR spoke with the solicitor handling the case and Mark’s widow, Carole, ahead of the hearing. She also undertook research into the ambulance responses times in order to draft a media release that was circulated to regional press.

Natalie attended the Inquest hearing and met with the family and their legal team to draft a post-hearing statement that was read to the waiting press following the inquest conclusion.

Deputy Coroner, Ms N James, made a finding rare finding of ‘Neglect’. It describes the acts or omissions which contribute causally to a person’s death, but which are not to be regarded as the primary cause.  Although the rules stress the distinction between a finding of neglect and common law negligence, the former having a narrower meaning, a finding of neglect in the medical context strongly suggests negligence by the relevant healthcare provider.

Statement from Mark’s Family

“From first dialling 999 it took 58 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. It took 41/2 minutes for that call to be answered, and when it was, the call handler failed to properly categorise it so that an ambulance would be despatched immediately to treat Mark.

58 minutes is an unacceptable delay for someone suffering a heart attack. 58 minutes during which the family frantically waited for help; made a further 999 call; and daughter – Tyne - urgently administered CPR which gave Mark a fighting chance.

We have heard today that delay in answering emergency calls has been identified as a national issue which suggests that the ambulance service is inadequately resourced.

The evidence given by the consultant cardiologist made it clear that had an ambulance reached Mark within the expected response time, he would, more likely than not, have survived.

Mark had the support of his large and loving family throughout his life, and they take comfort from the fact that they were with him when he died.”

Statement Matthew Brown, Medical Solicitors

“Sadly, we have noticed an upward trend in cases where ambulance and 999 performance has led to avoidable harm to patients and threat to life. Today’s finding of neglect reflects the seriousness of the failings in Mark’s care.”

Information About Ambulance Response Times

There are 4 Ambulance response time categories (Introduced in 2017) that all Ambulance Services in England follow. These are:

• Category 1 – Immediate threat to life
• Category 2 – Serious but not life threatening
• Category 3 – Urgent calls
• Category 4 – Non urgent calls

The target response times for each category are listed below. The 1^st time is the UK standard which was introduced in 2017 while the number in brackets is the expected response time in 90% of calls. This is also known as the 90^th centile response time.

• Category 1 – 7 minutes (15 minutes 90% of the time)
• Category 2 – 18 minutes (40 minutes 90% of the time)
• Category 3 – 2 hours (90% of the time)
• Category 4 – 3 hours (90% of the time)

Yorkshire Ambulance Service response times in October 2022

The information listed below is the average response times and 90^th centile response times of Yorkshire Ambulance Service to 999 calls in October 2022 the month that Mark died. It was found at https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ and looking at the AmbSYS Time Series to June 2023 spreadsheet. The response times during the month that Mark died were particularly poor.