A MAN has died after being kept waiting in an ambulance outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The man, who had been waiting for an hour in the ambulance, went into cardiac arrest while waiting to be seen.

The incident happened on November 27.

In a statement issued on behalf of West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of the trust, said they are looking into what happened.

"We have sent our condolences to the patient’s family and we are keeping them fully informed," they said.

“We know that on the night in question there were a number of ambulances waiting longer than we would want outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital, despite the best efforts of staff in our Emergency Departments (EDs) who work extremely hard to ensure that our patients get the best, safest care possible.

"We are taking positive action to tackle this but we recognise there is more that we need to do."

The hospital trust said is has put in place procedures designed to support ambulance crews and protect patient safety if ambulances are waiting.

Mr Hopkins added: Reducing waits and improving ambulance handovers is our number one quality and safety improvement priority and we will continue to work to deliver the improvements that are needed, not just in our hospitals but across our health and care system with our partner organisations.”