Mother dies in 23-minute 999 delay (From South Wales Guardian)

Mother dies in 23-minute 999 delay

9:31am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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A mum of four from Betws has died after it took 23 minutes for an ambulance to respond to a 999 call.

Sharon Dorritt, from Treforus, who suffered from asthma, was having difficulties breathing when emergency services were called at 11.30pm on Saturday, April 26.

The nearest ambulance to Ammanford that evening was in Swansea, which took over 20 minutes to reach the 33-year-old asthma sufferer.

When the ambulance crew arrived at Mrs Dorritt's family home in Betws, she had died of respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest.

Although there are ambulance services in both Ammanford and Llandeilo, a shortage of staff in Carmarthenshire meant that the services were stretched and the ambulance had to travel the 15 miles from Swansea to Betws.

County councillor Hugh Evans told the Guardian: "Hopefully, I will be able to contact the ambulance and emergency services soon to see what the situation is with the number of staff."

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