'Chances missed' to save mum's life - inquest

THE Welsh Ambulance Service missed opportunities to send a quicker vehicle which could have saved a woman's life after she suffered a fatal heart attack on Christmas Day in 2023, an inquest has heard.

- BRYANA FRANCIS

Charlotte Burston, 40, died after suffering a heart attack

Charlotte Burston, 40, was told an ambulance would take an hour and a half when her daughter told them she was suffering with chest pain.

Instead of waiting for the paramedics to arrive, her stepfather drove her to hospital but on the way she suffered a cardiac arrest.

She died on December 31 having suffered a hypoxic brain injury as a result of the cardiac arrest.

In a statement read out from Charlotte's mum, Helen Lay, the inquest heard Ms Burston grew up in Surrey and Hampshire, before she qualified as a beautician.

She moved to Pembrokeshire, where she lived with her two daughters in Narberth.

The court heard she had no major health issues but had seen the doctor for symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.

Her mum said during the week before Christmas, "her anxiety was through the roof".

Mrs Lay said between 8am and 8.30am on December 25, she received a call from her granddaughter asking her to come around because her mum wasn't well.

After calling her grandmother, she phoned 999 and was told by the call handler that an ambulance would take an hour and a half.