Ambulance service reveals 21 died in June heatwave

South Central Ambulance Service has revealed 21 patients died and nine were severely harmed while it was under pressure during the summer heatwave in June.

The incidents followed a huge rise in calls to the service as temperatures across the South soared.

Board papers show it has issued 39 duty of candour letters, part of its legal obligation to be open and transparent in the event of harm or death, to affected patients and families.

Trust chief nurse Prof Helen Young said she was "deeply sorry for the distress and harm" experienced by patients.

The Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning on 22 June, and ambulance service board papers show exceptional pressures across both 999 and 111 services in the following days.

At the time the service was managing a huge spike in call volumes due to a very high number of sick patients.

It declared a critical incident on 25 June and a major incident on 26 June, which was stood down on 28 June.

The service saw its highest ever number of calls waiting overnight on 25 June, when its data centre also overheated.

That resulted in delays to ambulances attending patients and long waits for assessment and treatment.

Analysis by the UK Health Security Agency reported an estimated 2,124 deaths were associated with the June heatwave across the UK.

An overview of the heatwave will be discussed later at the ambulance trust's board meeting at its northern headquarters in Bicester in Oxfordshire.

The trust said delays in ambulance response were the dominant issue behind most of the cases, with 36 related to delays arriving at the scene.

Delayed backup responses also affected three of these cases.

Of the 39 cases, 21 people died, nine resulted in severe harm, six moderate harm, and three were recorded as low or no harm.

The most common conditions were patients with breathing difficulties, patients who were unconscious and falls.

Young said: "I know the impact of these delays was profound for those patients and families waiting for an ambulance.

"We offer our heartfelt condolences to those affected and our sincere apologies where our service did not meet the standard people expected.

"Every patient and family identified through this review was contacted individually, offered an apology and given the opportunity to be involved in our review process.

"It is not yet determined that in all cases the delay experienced was a contributory factor to the patient's death, but we are committed to fully investigate.

"We know this heatwave was unprecedented, but we will use all these experiences to prepare for future heat and weather events."