UK FAIL

[CBEMT]

Man died after ambulance detour

An emergency patient died after a paramedic allegedly diverted an ambulance because his shift had ended.

An investigation is under way after the incident in Stockton, Teesside, on 18 May, in which a 69-year-old man died.

Instead of taking the stroke victim to Stockton's North Tees Hospital, a paramedic drove to the town's ambulance station.

A North East Ambulance Service Trust (NEAS) spokesman said a paramedic and a technician had been suspended.

The 3.3 mile (5.3 km) journey from the patient's house to the hospital should have taken less than 10 minutes.

But the delay meant he was not admitted to hospital until 30 minutes after the 999 call was made.

The driver suspended over the incident is aged 53 and the technician who was with the patient in the back of the ambulance is 54.

A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service Trust said: "This incident was immediately reported to us by another member of staff and as soon as we were notified, we acted to suspend a paramedic and an advanced technician from duty.

"We appointed a senior officer to carry out a full investigation of the incident and have notified the North East Strategic Health Authority, Stockton-on-Tees Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Health Professions Council of our actions.

"We have also been in touch with the family of the patient to give them our condolences and to keep them updated on developments.

"Patient care is our number one priority and we treat any action which falls short of the high standard expected of our staff extremely seriously.

"This has led to a thorough investigation and both the paramedic and advanced technician are now being dealt with in line with the trust's disciplinary procedures."

Edited June 8, 2009 by CBEMT

[scott33]

No excuses whatsoever. Fire them both!

The paramedic involved will also end up being struck off the HCP register, so will never be able to practice again.

[Richard B the EMT]

I had to re-read this a few times before I decided to comment.

1) The person acting as the "wheel man", with a serious patient aboard, instead of going immediately to the nearest appropriate Emergency Department, went, instead, back to his base, with the patient in the back?

2) This "wheel man" did so to avoid working a late call/overtime?

3) The patient caretaker, in the back? Did he attempt to contact the service's supervisor, to advise of this (by me, anyway) bizarre act on the part of the "wheel man"?

4) Was the caretaker unable to attempt contact, due to actually taking care of the patient, or lack of communications gear in the back of said ambulance?

Per the information I have from this string, I pronounce the following:

1) The "wheel man" was derelict in the performance of his duties, and, per my local protocols, is guilty of malpractice and/or malfeasance. String the bum up by the neck from the highest yardarm!

2A) If the caretaker attempted to contact supervisory personnel, he is not guilty of anything.

2B) If the caretaker was unable to attempt contact due to attempting continuation of patient care, he is not guilty of anything.

2C) If the caretaker was unable to attempt contact with the supervisors due to a lack of communications equipment in the back of the ambulance, the courts should direct the service to either establish such communications units, supply all personnel with a 2 way portable, or issue cell phones to all personnel.

3) If the caretaker did NOT document the event, and, to protect himself from any future charges bearing from the event, throw his partner under a bus, I can only feel that the caretaker was most likely acting in collusion with the "wheel man". Is there any more room on that yardarm for the noose around the caretaker's neck?

(Note- In 1980, I nearly was fired due to an idiot partner, who, knowing he was going to violate both company policy, and the state vehicle and traffic laws, pulled the radio microphone away from me that I could not contact the base, when he drove at the extreme speed of over 80 MPH on local town streets, to the point he actually ran a Nassau County Police Department's Radio Motor Patrol vehicle off the road. Both of us were nearly arrested, I was suspended for a couple of days, and he did get fired!)

[Dustdevil]

Isn't this about the third time we've heard a similar story out of the UK in the last couple of years? There was the guys who refused to respond to an incident across the street from them because they were on a lunch break just a few months back.

Dallas Firemonkeys did the same thing about twenty years ago. They were in a hurry to get to their off-duty jobs, so they took a patient back to the station for shift change. Patient died. I can't recall for sure if they were fired or not, but it seems like they were. They certainly should have been. Criminal prosecution would likely be in order too.

[mobey]

I wonder what kind of repromanding these medics get if they do run into OT.

Not that it makes this sort of stunt OK, but it may play a huge factor when a medic makes such a choice.

The reason I ask is because we have a jug of some high priced anti-microbial $hit our mngr bought a while back. It is a very small container and cost an arm and a leg. The official statement on this cleaner is "It is verrry expencive, and if you use it, you better have a good explination why". So obvioustly.. no one has EVER used it.

I know how our mngr can make your life a living hell, or even run you out of town, I have seen her do it.

That said, if my Mngr said "No more OT" I would be thinking long and hard about how to make it work.

[scott33]

Just an update on this story...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/8149919.stm

[hertzvanrental]

There is no excuse for this behaviour. As far as I (and the vast majority of medics) am concerned once you have a patient on board that's it. If you are late finishing then that is just tough shit. It's part and parcel of the job. Here in the UK if you overun a shift then you just claim overtime.

We've had a few situations where a crew that were close to finishing have pulled up to the station with a non-critical patient just so that one of the night crews can take over! We had emails sent out to say that this had to stop. Which it did. BUT there have been times when control have phoned up and asked a crew to jump on board! I would never entertain such requests and if control phoned up to ask me if I would mind jumping on board to take over from a day crew (with a patient on board) then I will tell them where to go. I wouldn't dream of asking another crew to take my patient just because I was going to be late. Absolutely absurd! What about continuity of care!

[akroeze]

It is common practice here that if one gets a call for a priority transfer out of town very close to the end of shift then they will go about it as usual but if the oncoming crew gets to base in time they will bring the spare truck over and swap out with the offgoing crew. Never is transport delayed in order to facilitate this.