A CORONER will write a report into the death of an 85-year-old Llanwnnen woman after an inquest found an ambulance was delayed by 15 minutes because paramedics were on an “undisturbable break”.

Rachel Lewis, of 18 Bro Grannell, Llanwnnen, died at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, on Saturday, 14 February 2016, after suffering bleeding on the brain in a fall outside Maesyfelin Nursing Home in Drefach, Llanybydder, while visiting her husband the day before.

The inquest had originally been opened by the coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen, Mark Layton, on 14 February last year, but was passed on to Peter Brunton, coroner for Ceredigion, who held the inquest at Aberystwyth Justice Centre last week.

The hearing was told that the first 999 call was made at 2.41pm, but after a first-response paramedic requested an ambulance immediately, it transpired that the nearest ambulance in Lampeter could not be called to the incident until 3.17pm because the crew were on an “undisturbable break”, with the next nearest ambulance almost 30 miles away in Aberystwyth.

The inquest heard from the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust that these were 30-minute breaks where paramedics would not be disturbed in any circumstances.

As a result, the ambulance did not arrive until 3.26pm, 43 minutes after the initial 999 call was made.

Mr Brunton said he would take the unusual step of filing a report with the chief coroner, which would assess whether undisturbable breaks were appropriate, calling them “a state of affairs I find surprising and I propose to do something about it.”

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