A COMPUTER system which navigates ambulances has been improved after technology struggled to find a patient who won £2.8million compensation over her treatment.

A new satellite navigation system is now in operation at Lancashire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, the authority said, after the case of overdose patient Claire Burchell.

The satellite navigation system directs crews on a map on a computer screen placed before the driver. Mrs Burchell received £2.8million from the trust following a High Court hearing on Monday.

The court heard she had been left "profoundly brain damaged" after the incident, which happened in Blackpool in 2001 when she was 21. The ambulance took half an hour to reach her.

A statement from the trust said: "The response time was longer than the national target of 19 minutes due to problems with finding the patient's address. This was in an area of new housing where the map showed a through road at a point where there was a cul-de-sac.

"This case was brought to the attention of the mapping provider.

"Since this date, an improved satellite navigation system has been introduced which aims to reduce the risk of similar problems."

Mrs Burchell's treatment was "not of the highest standard" it said although the trust did not accept liability for her injuries.

Monday's hearing heard Mrs Burchell was suffering from post natal depression after the birth of her second child and took 45 co-proxamol tablets at her home in Anchorsholme, Cleveleys.

She now lives in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.