Ambulance arrived to pick up man four years after his death

A widow is demanding answers after an ambulance called to pick up her husband for a medical appointment, nearly four years after his death. Mrs Denise Keeley, 65, said she was left shocked and distressed when two ambulance workers arrived at her Newark home to collect her husband, Mr George Keeley. Mr Keeley died from lung cancer aged 72 in February, 2008. The ambulance driver told Mrs Keeley they were collecting him for a podiatry appointment at Newark Hospital.

An investigation is under way by East Midlands Ambulance Service to find out why the ambulance mistakenly called at her address. Mrs Keeley wants to know why her husband’s details were still on the NHS system so long after his death. She said nobody else should have to experience what she went through. “I was very upset, shocked and disgusted that this could happen,” she said. “Over the years you get through and you get on with your life.



“If this had happened in the early days I would have been finished.” Mrs Keeley said she saw her husband’s name and address on the ambulance driver’s pick-up list. When it was clear they had the wrong person they started to walk away, but Mrs Keeley shouted them back to find out the reason for the mix-up. She was told that the request for the ambulance had come from Barnbygate Surgery, Newark.

The surgery has confirmed that it sent a request to the ambulance service to collect a patient, but gave another patient’s name, not Mr Keeley’s. The surgery has no record of Mr Keeley’s details as he was never a patient there. A spokesman for EMAS said: “We appreciate that this must have been a distressing event for Mrs Keeley and are now looking into why a vehicle mistakenly called at her address. As soon as we’ve established the circumstances, we will write to her with a full explanation.”