Parents Criticise Ambulance Service After Their Baby's Death In Wolverhampton

The parents of a six month old baby say West Midlands Ambulance Service contributed to his death.

The death of a six-month-old baby in Wolverhamption is being investigated after an ambulance was delayed in reaching him by almost 10 minutes because the 999 call operator did not have the appropriate training or resource to categorise the situation as urgent.

Cainan Moore's parents Gemma and Darren Moore rang 999 in October 2012 when they noticed he was having breathing difficulties.

Investigations are now underway to look at why there was a delay of 10 minutes reaching Cainan when New Cross hospital is only a 5 minute drive from their house.

His parents say it took 20 minutes in total for paramedics to arrive and the youngster later died in hospital after his brain was starved of Oxygen.

A report filed after his death, found the call centre allocated an ambulance that was 14 minutes away when there was a vehicle less than two minutes away on a 'disturbable break' as the call was not coded Red 1, which is the most serious.

There were also staff shortages at the time, meaning the call was not treated as an urgent case.

West Midlands Ambulance Service say this is a tragic case and they are now investigating the families claims.