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Ambulances are called to about 100,000 incidents a year, the service says
Some 62 Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs) were recorded by the South Western Ambulance Service in three years, figures obtained by the BBC say.
In one SUI from 2007, a patient was thought to be dead by a crew but was found breathing by undertakers later.
In another in 2008, a patient with severe chest pains was allowed to walk unaided up stairs before he died.
The service and unions said SUIs were a very small proportion of the thousands of incidents a year crews attended.
The service covers Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.
In the list of incidents from 2007 to 2009, which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, 20 were recorded in 2007, 29 in 2008 and 13 in 2009.
An SUI is defined as an accident or incident when a patient, member of staff or member of the public suffers serious injury, major permanent harm or unexpected death, or the risk of death or injury.
They can occur on health service premises, premises where health care is provided and where actions of health staff are likely to cause public concern.
Of the 62 SUIs, 34 were blamed on human error, including nine cases of wrong diagnosis.
In the stair-walking incident, CCTV appeared to show the ambulance crew carrying out no checks on a patient with severe chest pains. The patient walked unaided up two flights before dying in the ambulance.
Twenty-three incidents were blamed on equipment failure, including one case in 2008 where an out-of-hours doctor discovered there were battery problems in equipment he was about to use to resuscitate a cardiac arrest patient.
Dr Andy Smith, the medical director of the service, said: "When you look at these incidents, it works out at roughly less than three per 100,000 call-outs."
He added that the service had a culture of openness and staff were encouraged to report any incidents immediately "so we can investigate... and learn lessons".
Alan Lofthouse, from the union Unison, added that crews were open when things went wrong.
He said: "We're open to scrutiny from the public, we are all professional and we are all accountable."
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ambulances are called to about 100,000 incidents a year, the service says Some 62 Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs) were recorded by the South Western Ambulance Service in three years, figures obtained by the BBC say.
In one SUI from 2007, a patient was thought to be dead by a crew but was found breathing by undertakers later.
In another in 2008, a patient with severe chest pains was allowed to walk unaided up stairs before he died.
The service and unions said SUIs were a very small proportion of the thousands of incidents a year crews attended.
“It works out at roughly less than three [incidents] per 100,000 call-outs”
Dr Andy Smith South Western Ambulance Service In the list of incidents from 2007 to 2009, which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, 20 were recorded in 2007, 29 in 2008 and 13 in 2009.
An SUI is defined as an accident or incident when a patient, member of staff or member of the public suffers serious injury, major permanent harm or unexpected death, or the risk of death or injury.
They can occur on health service premises, premises where health care is provided and where actions of health staff are likely to cause public concern.
Of the 62 SUIs, 34 were blamed on human error, including nine cases of wrong diagnosis.
In the stair-walking incident, CCTV appeared to show the ambulance crew carrying out no checks on a patient with severe chest pains. The patient walked unaided up two flights before dying in the ambulance.
Twenty-three incidents were blamed on equipment failure, including one case in 2008 where an out-of-hours doctor discovered there were battery problems in equipment he was about to use to resuscitate a cardiac arrest patient.
Dr Andy Smith, the medical director of the service, said: "When you look at these incidents, it works out at roughly less than three per 100,000 call-outs."
He added that the service had a culture of openness and staff were encouraged to report any incidents immediately "so we can investigate... and learn lessons".
Alan Lofthouse, from the union Unison, added that crews were open when things went wrong.
He said: "We're open to scrutiny from the public, we are all professional and we are all accountable."
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.