Mum dies after ambulance just 6 minutes from her home was CANCELLED – as dad slams ‘I’ll be angry until the day I die’

A MUM died after an ambulance was cancelled just six minutes away from her home, an inquest has heard.

Karen Ovenell, 43, dialled 999 and told the operator she was suffering sharp pains in her chest.

An ambulance crew was initially dispatched to her house in Harrietsham, Kent, but was then stood down by a supervisor.

The call handler told Karen to sleep and book a GP appointment the next day or go to a busy A&E that night.

Karen suffered sharp and shooting pains for a week before she made the call in the early hours of the morning.

Her symptoms worsened on August 15 last year and she felt pain in her neck, ears and arm.

Her dad Arthur Ovenell, 68, has slammed the ambulance service and NHS for cancelling the emergency vehicle.

He told : "If they had turned up that night she could have stood a chance.

"I really believe that the ambulance service and NHS let her down.

";If the call handler had done their job properly, Karen would be here."

Karen's distraught father added that he will be "angry with them until the day he dies".

An inquest in Maidstone heard how clinical supervisor Joshua Aicken-Bowley, who worked at the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), decided Karen's symptoms weren't cardiac based.

A segmentation call – which is made to assess if a case can be upgraded or downgraded in severity – was made to Karen by Mr Aicken-Bowley.

When giving evidence, he said: "I have never seen anyone present heart attack symptoms like this before.

"I wasn't clinically suspicious of a coronary cause. If we believe an ambulance isn't required we would stand it down."

Vikki Lewis, a clinical operations manager at SECAmb, said an investigation had found Mr Aicken-Bowley had made the decision from his own experience rather than using the system tool to assess Karen.

Mr Aicken-Bowley has since left his role at the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb).

Karen's cause of death was given as ischemic heart disease in a pathology report.

A spokesman for the service said: "Our thoughts and condolences are with Ms Ovenell's family and friends at this difficult time.

"Following a thorough investigation we have taken steps to improve our training and operational processes, shared learning from the incident with our clinicians and, having attended the inquest, will continue to work with the coroner ahead of their findings."