READ: PARAMEDIC ‘JUST STOOD THERE’ AS MAN LAY DYING

A widow claimed a paramedic gave her husband ‘no treatment’ as he lay dying in the street after suffering a fractured skull, a hearing was told today (Mon).

Andrew Read showed little regard for 47 year-old Antony Fenn and failed to ‘appreciate the severity of the situation’, it was said.

Mr Fenn was left lying on a pavement in a pool of blood, having fallen and hit his head just 50 yards from his home as he returned from a trip to a corner shop in East Sussex.

His widow Patricia Fenn told the Health Professions Council that Read’s ‘attitude changed completely’ after she told him her husband was an alcoholic.

Mrs Fenn found her partner injured on the ground after being alerted by a neighbour.

It is alleged Read failed to stabilise the patient with a collar, spinal board or special vacuum mattress or give him any oxygen until he was placed in an ambulance.

Mrs Fenn told the panel she had been at home with their five-year-old daughter on June 28, 2009, when a neighbour arrived to say her husband was hurt.

She rushed to the scene in Brightling Avenue, Ore, near Hastings, where Mr Fenn had been walking back from the corner shop.

She said: ‘When I got there he was lying on the ground and a neighbour was holding a towel to the back of his head.

‘He wasn’t aware, he was bleeding heavily from the back of the head, the ear, nose, mouth.

‘A male paramedic asked if my husband had any medical conditions and I confirmed he was an alcoholic.’

‘His attitude changed completely after that. You could feel his whole demeanour and his body language change.’

Mrs Fenn said Read had done very little to help or reassure her dying husband.

He wrapped a sheet of gauze around his head, slightly covering his eyes, but when Mr Fenn tried to move it, the paramedic is alleged to have replied: ‘Fine then – I’m not putting it back. You can leave it off.’

Together with a female colleague, he loaded Mr Fenn onto a stretcher and into an ambulance, which allegedly stayed at the scene for 20 minutes before driving away.

When Read eventually took Mr Fenn to the Conquest hospital in Hastings, he did not use the emergency sirens or lights on the ambulance.

Mr Fenn was then forced to wait 40 minutes in accident and emergency because Read ‘did not initiate a prompt handover on arrival’.

It is alleged he ‘lacked any proper clinical decision making’ while treating the injured man.

Asked by Christopher Whalley, for the HPC, what Read had been doing when she arrived at the scene, Mrs Fenn said: ‘He was just standing there.’

‘What treatment was he providing,’ he asked.

She replied: ‘No treatment.’

Mr Fenn died from his injuries in hospital less than 48 hours later.

Read had been working as a paramedic with the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust for 26 years at the time of the incident.

He has since given up the role after disciplinary proceedings, but is still employed by the trust as an ambulance technician, a less senior position.

Mr Whalley said: ‘Mr Read did not provide adequate treatment to the patient, including failing to provide oxygen, failing to immobilize him and not dressing the head injury properly.

‘The allegations demonstrate he showed disregard for the patient and did not appreciate the severity of the situation.

‘And of course Mr Read denies the allegations, so there’s no evidence of any insight into his failings.’

Read, is not attending today’s hearing in central London.

But he has denied all charges by letter.

It is alleged he failed to: carry out proper assessment of the patient; provide adequate care; complete the appropriate paperwork; and that his behaviour was unprofessional.

If he is found guilty he faces being struck off.

The hearing continues.

Ends.