Patient, 41, left to die as ambulance refused
A man from Staffordshire died after being repeatedly refused an ambulance to take him to hospital.
Mark Hemmings, aged 41, was suffering with gallstones and needed a routine operation.
But his calls for an ambulance were dismissed by a 999 controller and then an out-of-hours doctor.
Mr Hemmings, of Meir in Stoke-on-Trent, died two days later at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
West Midlands Ambulance Service today said an investigation had been carried out which determined the calls were handled correctly.
Mr Hemmings had called for an ambulance on March 29 and was quizzed on his condition for more than seven minutes.
Listen to Mark Hemmings' 999 calls:
Call one: The first 999 call
Call two: The out-of-hours doctor's call
Call three: The second 999 call
In recordings from Mr Hemmings' 999 call, he describes being in agony and experiencing sharp pain."Can't I have an ambulance?," he says.
No ambulance was sent, with an operator telling him: "From what you've told me you don't require an emergency ambulance."
He was told: "Stomach ache is very common, not often serious and gets better on its own but you can try a warm bath, hot water bottle on a painful area."
He told the medic he was suffering with gallstones and was close to passing out.
But still nobody visited Mr Hemmings and he was asked to get the the doctor's surgery at Basford, despite the fact he could not drive and lived alone. When he did not attend, no further checks were made.
On April 1, he was found seriously ill at his flat by his care worker and paramedics arrived. Mr Hemmings later suffered a heart attack.
Recordings of Mr Hemmings' calls for help have been given to his cousin Dean Rowley. A post mortem later found Mr Hemmings had died from his pancreatic duct being blocked by gallstones.
West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Steve Parry said: "The call was assessed using national guidelines based on the information provided by the caller. As a result the patient's condition was judged not to be immediately life threatening.
"To try and assist the patient, the call handler made the necessary arrangements for an out of hours GP to contact the patient. The Trust understands that the GP subsequently carried this out.
"The Trust had no further contact until two days later when a further 999 call was received. On this occasion an ambulance and a rapid response vehicle were dispatched arriving within six minutes."
