Skip to content
recurance

Insufficient ambulance resources leading to delayed response

Closely relatedConfidence 0.85 · high4 reports · 2018–2023 One-page brief (print or PDF)

South East Coast Ambulance Service received 4 coroners' reports about this hazard between 27 Feb 2018 and 26 Jun 2023.

They came from 3 different coroners in 3 coroner areas. A similar concern was raised again 3 times after the first warning.

A published response was found for 3 of the 3 earlier reports, stating 3 specific actions.

4
reports
3
different coroners
2018–2023
years
0.85
lowest link confidence

The story, report by report

Spacing grows with the time between reports.

  1. First warning

    Kevan Funnell↗

    27 Feb 2018 · Veronica Hamilton-Deeley · West Sussex, Brighton and Hove

    “the ambulance was so delayed in its response to Mr [name redacted]”
    Original on judiciary.uk ↗

    South East Coast Ambulance Service responded, stating 1 specific action.Response (PDF) ↗

    “We are currently working with our commissioners in a jointly commissioned demand and capacity review, intended to better align our resource requirements to the demands on our service, particularly in the light of the newly introduced Ambulance Response Programme standards.”
  2. 4 months later

    Raised again · 1st time

    Margaret Stemp↗

    25 Jun 2018 · Penelope Schofield · West Sussex

    “(1) That there were insufficient resources to deal with the high number of calls on”
    Original on judiciary.uk ↗

    South East Coast Ambulance Service responded, stating 1 specific action.Response (PDF) ↗

    “We are aiming to recruit an additional 300 ambulance crew members, so we will have more resources that we can call upon for times of maximum demand.”

    Stated timescale: next three years

  3. 4 years 9 months later

    Raised again · 2nd time

    Veronica Jenkins↗

    31 Mar 2023 · Anna Crawford · Surrey

    Closely relatedConfidence 0.92 · higha different coroner
    “There is a risk of a future reoccurrence of the situation which arose on 10 May 2022, namely a deficit in operational hours provided by SECAMBS leading to delayed response times compromising patient safety.”
    Original on judiciary.uk ↗

    South East Coast Ambulance Service responded, stating 1 specific action.Response (PDF) ↗

    “SECAmb had planned for 2370.1 WTE by 31 March 2023.”

    Stated timescale: 31 March 2023

  4. 3 months later

    Raised again · 3rd time

    Ginger Wright↗

    26 Jun 2023 · Anna Crawford · Surrey

    Closely relatedConfidence 0.85 · higha different coroner
    “SECAMBS is regularly operating at Stage 4 of its Surge Management Plan, meaning that demand for the service is significantly outstripping available resources”
    Original on judiciary.uk ↗

    South East Coast Ambulance Service responded.Response (PDF) ↗Response (PDF) ↗

  5. All reports to South East Coast Ambulance Service

Next

This shows that a similar concern was raised again after an earlier report. It does not say why, and it is not a finding about any organisation or person. To report an error, see the corrections route.

  • Built with
  • NVIDIA Nemotron Nano, Super and Ultra
  • Nebius Token Factory inference
  • Qwen3 Embedding 8B on Token Factory
  • Tavily follow-up web search
  • Postgres and pgvector search
  • Next.js site

Source: Prevention of Future Deaths reports and responses published by the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary at judiciary.uk. Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data updated 26 Oct 2026.

A link shows that a similar concern was raised again, not why. It is not a finding about any organisation or person. Methodology and responsible use · Report an error