The death of a man who waited more than three hours for an ambulance has prompted calls from a coroner.

Philip Ross died at the Royal Surrey County Hospital on December 19, 2023 after a fall in his home on December 3. 

Surrey’s assistant coroner Susan Ridge ruled that Mr Ross died of multiple organ failure after his accidental fall.

Ms Ridge said she was concerned South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has not shown evidence that its timeline for clinical validation is being met.

Clinical validation is when a case is sent to a clinician to decide the best response for the patient at the right time.

Mr Ross’ wife called an ambulance at 11:25pm after her husband had a fall and was unable to move. Initially, Mr Ross’ case was labelled by SECAmb as Category 3, which would have a response time of 120 minutes. Paramedics did not arrive until 2:30am, the report stated.

Ms Ridge said Category 3 cases had a response time of 120 minutes and SECAmb aimed to validate these calls with a clinician within 90 minutes.

“No clinical validation of the calls took place until well over 2 hours from the initial call,” Ms Ridge said.

Categories 3 and 4 are judged as less serious cases and have longer required response times from ambulances. It can become extended even longer at times of high demand. 

The coroner said she is concerned that late or delayed assessment and sorting of these initially ‘less serious’ cases is “placing patients at risk of early death”. 

A SECAmb spokesperson said: “Our thoughts and condolences are with Mr Ross’s family. We are very sorry that we were not able to respond to him more quickly.”

The service has 56 days from 16 September to respond to the coroner’s report.