Ambulance was delayed, but this did not cause physical harm to mother and baby

What happened

Mrs M said she had to wait too long for the ambulance, and so lost too much blood. She said this meant she nearly died and it caused her baby's disability. She also complained that the hospital should have decided to deliver her baby when she saw staff earlier in the day, and hospital staff took too long to deliver her baby by emergency caesarean. She felt this contributed to her baby's disability.

What we found

The ambulance took too long to reach Mrs M because of problems in how the Ambulance Trust handled the call and poor staffing. The Ambulance Trust should have acknowledged this in its response to Mrs M's complaint. However, Mrs M did not lose enough blood to affect her health or that of the baby while she was waiting, and we could not link the delay to her baby's disability. We partly upheld the complaint about the Ambulance Trust.

We did not uphold the complaint about the Trust because the care it provided was appropriate and did not contribute to the problems Mrs M's baby had when he was born.

Putting it right

The Ambulance Trust apologised to Mrs M and paid her £500 for the distress she experienced because of the delay.