A mother-of-two died in her sleep hours after an ambulance was stood down while just six minutes away from her home, an inquest has heard.

Karen Ovenell called 999 after suffering sharp pains in her chest.

While an initial call handler booked an ambulance, this was later stood down and she was told to sleep and book a GP appointment the following day or go to a busy A&E that night.

The 43-year-old, from Harrietsham, had been suffering from sharp and shooting pains for a week when symptoms worsened on Thursday, August 15, and she felt pain in her neck, ears and arm.

Now, her father Arthur Ovenell has slammed the ambulance service and NHS for cancelling the emergency vehicle which he believes could have saved her life.

The distraught 68-year-old, who described his daughter as an amazing mum, person and animal lover, said: “If they had turned up that night she could have stood a chance. I really believe that the ambulance service and NHS let her down.

“If the call handler had done their job properly, Karen would be here.”

“She was such a lovely girl,” the 68-year-old added. “She thought the world of her two sons. We were very close. I miss her so much.”

“I felt like my world fell apart. You hear about it happening to others but not to you.”

Mr Ovenell said he’s still extremely angry about what happened that night and he will be “angry with them until the day he dies”.

He continued: “I just want someone to take account of what happened.”

An inquest in Maidstone on Tuesday heard how after Ms Ovenell rang the ambulance service at 00.13am on August 16, a Category 2 ambulance crew was dispatched to her home in Cricketers Close, Harrietsham, just eight minutes later at 00.21am.

Category 2 ambulances are for serious conditions such as strokes, heart attacks, sepsis or major burns and aim to be at the patient’s home within 18 minutes.

Assistant coroner James Dillon was told how at 00.37am, a segmentation call – which is made to assess if a case can be upgraded or downgraded in severity – was made to Ms Ovenell by clinical supervisor Joshua Aicken-Bowley.

Evidence from the hearing at Oakwood House heard how Mr Aicken-Bowley, who has since left his role at the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), decided within two minutes of speaking to the mother-of-two that her symptoms weren’t cardiac based and he stood down the incoming ambulance.

Vikki Lewis, a clinical operations manager at SECAmb, detailed how a serious investigation report and audit of Mr Aicken-Bowley’s handling of the call revealed he had made the decision from his own experience and without using the primary and acute care system (PACS) tool to assess her.

Mr Aicken-Bowley was given an audit score of 50% for the call when a pass mark is 80%.

The audit, which was done by an experienced paramedic and GP, added that the clinical supervisor made an “incorrect” decision and he had “drawn conclusions and assumed this wasn’t cardiac based from his own experiences and assessment.”

It added: “The decision was unsafe and without based evidence.”

The court also heard the patient had been “persuaded” by the clinical supervisor, who had “worked outside the usual line of operation”, to take a different course of action – namely book a GP appointment or go to A&E.

Ms Lewis told the court there was no information on exactly where the ambulance was, but she recalls from a report she didn’t have to hand there was “around six minutes left”, meaning an estimated time of arrival was 00.43am.

Darragh Coffey, who was representing Ms Ovenell’s partner Paul Chimes and her father, highlighted that Mr Aicken-Bowley went through the PACS tool with Ms Ovenell after he had cancelled the ambulance.

This call went on for another 14 minutes and ended at 00.52am, around nine minutes after the ambulance was due to arrive.

Mr Coffey argued it would have been more prudent to let the paramedics attend the Harrietsham home and see Ms Ovenell in person to assess her, rather than cancel the call out within two minutes.

The court heard had the paramedics arrived, an electrocardiogram (ECG) would have been completed, a myocardial infarction would have been spotted and Ms Ovenell would have been taken to hospital.

When Mr Aicken-Bowley gave evidence, he was asked about his call with Ms Ovenell and why he stood down the ambulance.

He explained how after speaking to the mum-of-two he believed her symptoms weren’t life-threatening or cardiac related as she didn’t sound breathless and her sharp, shooting pains were atypical of a heart attack which often comes with a crushing pain.

Mr Aicken-Bowley added the standard wait time for a Category 3 ambulance can be anywhere up to six hours and Ms Ovenell would save much more time by taking herself to A&E at Maidstone Hospital, which was around 20 minutes away.

However, the patient believed she couldn’t do this as she had a young child at home who was asleep and instead opted for the clinical supervisor’s suggestion of having a GP appointment just after midday.

Ms Ovenell was then advised to try and get some sleep, but if her symptoms get worse to call 999 or go to A&E as soon as possible.

A pathology report revealed the mum’s cause of death was given as ischemic heart disease.

Mr Aicken-Bowley said he didn’t think a Category 2 ambulance was required based on his “professional judgement” and cited Ms Ovenell’s breathing and age as a factor.

Speaking about the shooting pains, he said: “I have never seen anyone present heart attack symptoms like this before.”

When asked by Mr Coffey about standing down the ambulance, Mr Aicken-Bowley explained: “I wasn’t clinically suspicious of a coronary cause.

“If we believe an ambulance isn’t required we would stand it down.”

Mr Aicken-Bowley added: “The aim of the segmentation process is to stand down Category 2 call outs if safe to do so.

“The purpose of the call is to get information quick and make a decision about reallocating resources.”

The trust has 64 calls outstanding on the night of Ms Ovenell's death and only six ambulances in the area.

Mr Coffey highlighted that clinical supervisors for SECAmb making decisions about standing down calls weren’t able to access GP notes about the patient – such as their Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, or smoking and alcohol habits.

He asked Mr Aicken-Bowley that if an ambulance was dispatched, would Ms Ovenell have had an ECG which would have detected the problem?

“Yes, probably,” he replied.

As a result of Ms Ovenell’s death, SECAmb has made changes to how it operates similar calls, including supervisors now being unable to stop an ambulance which is on the way to a patient.

A spokesman for the service said: “Our thoughts and condolences are with Ms Ovenell’s family and friends at this difficult time.

“ Following a thorough investigation we have taken steps to improve our training and operational processes, shared learning from the incident with our clinicians and, having attended the inquest, will continue to work with the coroner ahead of their findings.”