Brisbane mum found dead in her bed after ambulance fails to arrive

Queensland’s ambulance service has admitted it “should have done better” in the case of a 51-year-old Brisbane mother who died after an ambulance failed to reach her following a triple-0 call.

Cath Groom, 51, was found dead by her son the next morning. Picture: Nine News

Queensland’s ambulance service has admitted it “should have done better” in the case of a 51-year-old Brisbane mother who died after an ambulance failed to reach her.

Cath Groom, 51, was found dead in her bed by her son on November 18 – what would have been her birthday – after she had complained of chest pains the night before.

QAS Commissioner Craig Emery confirmed Ms Groom had called triple-0 at 10.26pm on Friday, November 17 complaining of chest pains from her Forest Lake home.

The call was “immediately prioritised” as an emergency incident Code 1C – where a likely life-threatening situation is considered “potential time critical” – but an ambulance was not dispatched straight away.

Cath Groom called triple-0 but an ambulance failed to attend. Picture: Nine News

An ambulance should have been with Ms Groom in 10 to 15 minutes.

About 11.20pm a senior paramedic called Ms Groom back to assess her condition to see if anything had changed and let her know they were still searching for an ambulance to be dispatched to the scene.

At 11.53pm the QAS received a call to cancel the ambulance, with Ms Groom heading to bed with the intention of getting help in the morning.

She never woke up.

Ms Groom, a widow, was found by her teenage son the next morning.

Mr Emery said paramedics should have been much earlier to the scene to ensure the request wasn’t cancelled by the patient.

A full clinical review is being undertaken into what happened, though Mr Emery said the initial investigation so far revealed the way the call was handled and coded was appropriate.

There were about 80 to 100 other responses made in the Brisbane-West Moreton area that night with paramedics hit with a “significant period of surge”.

Mr Emery said there were 95 ambulances on the road in Brisbane-West Moreton area on the night, with about half at hospitals offloading patients at the time of the call though not all were ramped. He said this was not unusual.

Ambulance delay death timeline. Picture: Nine News

He confirmed absenteeism, including staff being out sick, wasn’t an issue on the night.

“We obviously should have done better in this set of circumstances,” Mr Emery said.

“We’ve started a comprehensive review, the assistant commissioner from Metro south has met with the family, we’ve reassured them that we’ll provide any and all information that we find from this review.”

Ms Groom’s death comes just one day after grandfather Wayne Irving died as he waited for a bed at Ipswich Hospital on the ambulance ramp.