AMBULANCE bosses have admitted mistakes were made when dealing with a 999 call from a woman who was later found dead at her Hampshire home, an inquest heard.

Patricia Frake was found dead at her Totton house by her son, just hours after a call to the ambulance service, during which a nurse diagnosed that she was suffering from a panic attack.

A post-mortem later revealed that the 64-year-old, of Spicers Way, in fact died of a blood clot in her lung, as a result of her previously diagnosed ovarian cancer.

However, Southampton Coroner's Court heard how the dealing of Mrs Frake by the clinician, working on the clinical support desk at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), had gone down the “wrong route”.

An investigation by SCAS found that she should have used open questions rather than closed ones to determine how the patient was feeling and having diagnosed a panic attack, the clinician should have followed newly introduced clinical guidelines.

These state that if a patient is suspected of a panic attack a clinician should be sent to make a diagnosis in person.

Paul Phillips, from SCAS, said: “There should have been a visit by an ambulance clinician to assess that. Panic attacks cannot be diagnosed over the telephone. This is a good example because it could be a number of other things.”

No one was sent, instead a call was made to a relative to visit and her GP asking for a home visit – neither of which happened.

As a result of that investigation the clinician was suspended as a mentor and she was supervised for a period, during which she was to be performing as she should be, so no further action was taken.

The trust also changed procedures so that staff would now have to sign once they had read new clinical guidelines, instead of assuming everyone had done so.

Recording a death due to natural causes Southampton Coroner Keith Wiseman made it clear that it was impossible to speculate whether anything could have possibly changed the outcome that day.

He added that it was important that these conversations were had and that the “best steps possible” have been taken to resolve that.

A spokesman from SCAS added: “We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to the family.

“We would reassure them that any criticism of our procedures in this matter has been taken seriously and that appropriate action has been taken by the trust to improve procedures for the future for the benefit of our patients.”