THE ambulance service has said it will learn lessons from the case of an Ellesmere woman whose death was ruled a suicide by Shropshire's coroner.

Anna Patricia Shore, 31 and of Ellesmere, was found in cardiac arrest in Cremorne Gardens – close to the Mere – in Ellesmere last October but could not be revived.

At her inquest at Shropshire Coroner’s Court in Shrewsbury, assistant coroner Heath Westermann recorded her death as suicide.

An ambulance arrived at the scene more than an hour after an initial call was made at 4.38pm on Saturday, October 21 last year by a mental health nurse who Miss Shore had called to say she had swallowed an excess of prescribed drugs.

Paramedics and a police community support officer initially struggled to find Miss Shore, and while the court was told that this did not have a direct impact on the outcome, West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) vowed to learn from the incident in how it handled similar cases.

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The court heard that a call was made to a mental health nurse at the Midlands Partnership Trust from Miss Shore – who worked as a teaching assistant – explaining she had ingested a number of tablets.

An ambulance did not arrive until 6.25pm and a paramedic – without equipment – and police were unable to locate her.

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When they did, Miss Shore was found in cardiac arrest and CPR was unsuccessfully administered. She died around 7.30pm.

The court heard a statement from WMAS which said that lessons would be learned and shared about the call out to Miss Shore across the emergency services.

Mr Westermann also told the court that Miss Shore had made preparations for her family after her death and ruled that it was suicide.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We would like to apologise for the delayed response. Unfortunately, we continue to experience long handover delays at hospitals which has a direct impact on how long it takes us to reach patients in the community. We rely on each part of the health and social care system working together so that our ambulances can get to patients in the community quickly. 

"If our crews are caring for patients outside hospital, they can’t respond to patients as quickly as we would all want. 

“Upon arrival at the initial call location, there was no patient found. Therefore, the ambulance crew split up with one clinician joining a PCSO on foot to try and locate the patient whilst the second clinician remained on the ambulance with the equipment and met up with the other emergency services who were also searching for the patient.

“The clinician and PCSO came across the patient first and immediately began administering basic life support before advanced life support started when the second crew member arrived at the new location.”

Helplines

If you would like any help with bereavement, loss or mental wellbeing, here are some helpline numbers

You can call the Samaritans on 116 123

Papyrus Hopeline on 0800 068 4141

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) on 0800 58 58 58

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) 0300 111 5065 uksobs.org