By Viv Thomas
Thetford, Brandon and Watton Times
THETFORD, England — A mother described how she tried to resuscitate her child as she waited for almost 30 minutes for paramedics to respond to a 999 call.
Three-month-old Bella Louise Hellings died on March 11 and was one of the serious cases over which the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) is facing questions.
Her mother Amy Carter, from Thetford, called 999 after her daughter had a fit and stopped breathing. She stayed on the phone to the operator and started CPR until paramedics finally arrived after 26 minutes.
The most urgent 999 calls are supposed to be responded to within eight minutes.
When they arrived at her home near Bury Road, in Thetford, paramedics got Bella into the ambulance and taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.
But, according to Miss Carter, there was a further delay as the crew did not know where they were going.
Her partner, Scott Hellings, 24, arrived at the hospital before the ambulance, despite leaving from Thetford at the same time.
Miss Carter said: “They went the wrong way. They followed the satnav and it was a paramedic from Diss on her first shift ever. It was her first day.”
An inquest into Bella’s death was opened on March 22 by Norfolk’s coroner and the case is now being investigated.
The ambulance service wrote to the family last week and visited Miss Carter last Wednesday to say they would look into what happened. The couple, who have one other child, are now taking legal advice.
“We want the ambulance service to realise what they have done,” she said. “They didn’t give Bella what she needed. They didn’t get to her in time.”
Elizabeth Truss MP met the interim chief executive of the ambulance trust, Andrew Morgan, after the EDP reported on the case of Catherine Barton in January.
The 27-year-old veterinary nurse died near Thetford golf club in August 2011 after waiting for more than 90 minutes to be removed from the wreckage of her Ford Ka which had crashed.
Responding to Bella’s death, Ms Truss said: “This is incredibly sad and my thoughts are very much with the parents. The 999 call from the mother surely must have made this a priority case and for the ambulance to take so long to arrive is of serious concern.
“There are a number of unanswered questions and I expect the EEAST to be investigating this as a matter of urgency.”
In the aftermath of Miss Barton’s death the ambulance service said it had made improvements and changes to the way it responded to calls.
A spokesman for the trust said an investigation was under way to establish the full circumstances of Bella’s death and could not comment further.
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