A patient went into cardiac arrest and died after waiting more than five hours in the back of an ambulance to get into A&E.
The patient arrived at Worcestershire Royal Hospital at around 9pm on October 4, when they were assessed as being stable, sources said.
However they were not offloaded to A&E for many hours and their condition worsened during the wait.
After five hours, paramedics warned doctors the patient was having difficulty breathing and was pale, the BBC reported.
The patient was rushed to a resuscitation room but went into cardiac arrest shortly afterwards and could not be saved.
The hospital and West Midlands Ambulance Service have now launched a joint investigation.
In a statement, they said they were ‘aware’ of a case of a patient dying ‘shortly after’ being taken into A&E on October 5.
They added: ‘We have launched a joint investigation into the circumstances.
‘While that investigation is ongoing it would be inappropriate to say anything further at this stage, other than to express our condolences to the patient’s family, who are being kept fully informed.’
National guidelines say patients should be transferred from an ambulance to an emergency department within 15 minutes.
But hospitals are increasingly struggling to meet this target as they come under increasing pressure from spiraling Covid cases and a huge backlog of patient care.
A record six million people are awaiting treatment that has been canceled or delayed because of the pandemic, putting pressure on A&E services.
This weekend, Glasgow’s health board told people not to come to A&E unless their condition was ‘life-threatening’, after a surge in people turning up for minor injuries such as sore throats, bruising, tooth ache and period pain.
Ambulance services across the country say they are struggling to cope with demand.
Last week, a paramedic warned that four- to six-hour delays in getting to patients, increasing numbers of ambulances waiting outside hospitals and a backlog of 999 calls is becoming an every day occurrence.
Richard Webber, a paramedic and spokesman for the College of Paramedics, said: ‘This issue has been bad for a while, hospitals have been so much busier.
‘Patients are being admitted and what’s happening is they cannot move them straight into A&E, so ambulances have become cabs waiting to unload outside hospitals.
‘Our members are reporting delays of four to six hours in getting to people, which means there can be up to 15 ambulances waiting outside hospitals with patients inside.
‘This also creates a backlog of 999 calls. I’m talking (about) up to 300 calls for a service to deal with, leaving people to wait at home potentially in need of serious medical attention.
‘Everything is therefore taking longer; staff are dealing with three or four incidents every shift, when they would usually do as many as eight.’
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to use his Budget tomorrow to commit a further £5.9billion to help the NHS.
But despite all the fresh spending, ministers have refused to set a target for when the backlog will be cleared.
The government has also come under fire from doctors for resisting calls to implement ‘Plan B’ of the Covid winter strategy, which would mean a return to mandatory face masks and work from home guidance.
Ministers have said pressure on the NHS is sustainable – but medics say we are already in a winter crisis with many bleak months ahead.
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