Please hurry or I'll be dead': Tragic final call of 94-year-old grandfather to 999 operator after ambulance failed to arrive

  • Kenneth Shadbolt dialled 999 after falling in his Cotswolds home on March 24
  • Call handlers said they were sending an ambulance but it did not arrive until more than 5 hours later 
  • He made two more calls over the next hour claiming his breathing was bad
  • In his last call, four hours before the ambulance arrived, he said to send a hearse 

By James Tozer for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

A grandfather begged an ambulance call handler ‘please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead’ after dialling 999 for the third time.

Otherwise the best bet would be to ‘send me the undertaker’, Kenneth Shadbolt told the operator.

But it took four more hours for an ambulance to reach the 94-year-old’s home, by which time he had lost consciousness. He was rushed to hospital but died that day.

Yesterday his family shared a harrowing transcript of his three 999 calls.

They spoke out as a safety watchdog demanded an ‘immediate’ response to stop patients dying unnecessarily.

Kenneth Shadbolt, 94, spent more than five hours lying on the floor after he fell at his home in Chipping Campden on March 24. He called 999 shortly before 3am and again at 3.15. At 4.16am he made his final call where he told the call handler: 'Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead. Send me the undertaker, that would be the best bet'

Kenneth Shadbolt, 94, spent more than five hours lying on the floor after he fell at his home in Chipping Campden on March 24. He called 999 shortly before 3am and again at 3.15. At 4.16am he made his final call where he told the call handler: 'Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead. Send me the undertaker, that would be the best bet'

Mr Shadbolt was assessed as a category two emergency meaning paramedics should arrive at his home within 18 minutes

Mr Shadbolt was assessed as a category two emergency meaning paramedics should arrive at his home within 18 minutes

However, the ambulance did not arrive until 8.10am and he died in hospital at 2.20pm from a bleed to his brain

However, the ambulance did not arrive until 8.10am and he died in hospital at 2.20pm from a bleed to his brain 

On the morning of Mr Shadbolt’s calls, more than half of ambulances in his area faced delays of more than an hour, according to figures seen by the BBC.

Since losing Claudine, his wife in 2016, Mr Shadbolt had lived independently in the Cotswolds market town of Chipping Campden. But just before 3am on March 24 this year, the retired carpenter fell, hitting a wardrobe before collapsing on the floor. Unable to get up and in pain, he dialled 999, with the operator saying help is ‘being arranged’.

According to internal call logs, he was a category two emergency, meaning paramedics should arrive in 18 minutes.

He then spoke to one of his sons who offered to drive up from the other side of the country, only for his father to say the ambulance was arranged. Later he called a neighbour but couldn’t raise them.

Mr Shadbolt rang 999 again just before 3.15am, saying he couldn’t move his leg. The call handler said the service was ‘extremely busy’.

According to the log, ambulances were queuing outside hospitals, with patients waiting for more than eight hours.

Mr Shadbolt called a third time at 4.12am saying his ‘breathing is going’ and is worried that ‘I’m going to fade away’. Assured that ambulance crews had ‘not forgotten about you’, Mr Shadbolt retorted: ‘Can you please tell them to hurry up or I shall be dead. Send me the undertaker, that would be the best bet.’

His son Jerry Shadbolt, 66, said: ‘Had he been seen more quickly he would still be here today’

His son Jerry Shadbolt, 66, said: ‘Had he been seen more quickly he would still be here today’

Mr Shadbolt, pictured with his son Jerry, right, criticised the service his father received

Mr Shadbolt, pictured with his son Jerry, right, criticised the service his father received 

It was not until 8.10am that an ambulance arrived and took him to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. He died at 2.20pm from a bleed on the brain.

His son Jerry Shadbolt, 66, said: ‘Had he been seen more quickly he would still be here today.’ 

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “Our performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to handover delays caused by capacity issues in hospitals, and in community and social care. This means it’s currently taking us too long to get an ambulance to patients. This is a risk which we recognise is unacceptable.”

“We continue to work on a daily basis with our partners to ensure our crews can get back out on the road as quickly as possible, to respond to other 999 calls.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The Emergency Departments at Cheltenham and Gloucester are constantly busy, and the team work tirelessly to ensure people are cared for. All patients arriving by ambulance and waiting to come into A&E are assessed to ensure they are given the correct level of priority.

We work very closely with our colleagues in the Ambulance Service to reduce handover delays to ensure ambulances are available as quickly as possible to respond to 999 calls.

By working together, we have been able to reduce the handover delays by an average of 100 hours per day, but we recognise there is much more we need to do.”

  • Have you or someone you know suffered as a result of ambulance delays this year? If so, send an email to: ambulances@dailymail.co.uk.

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