WHITE: PARAMEDIC ‘TAPPED’ DOUBLE AMPUTEE TO STOP HIM FROM FALLING ASLEEP

A paramedic told a hearing how she prodded a double amputee patient with his walking sticks to keep him alert after he collapsed outside a pub.

Teresa White was called to help the man, who uses titanium prosthetic legs, after he was found in the street outside The Prince of Wales in Harborough Road, Northampton, on December 6, 2009.
 
White, who was working for the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, allegedly failed to assess the patient after he collapsed, the Health Professions Council has heard.

Giving evidence White, dressed in a grey dress with her blonde hair tied back, claimed the man, referred to as Patient A, repeatedly told her to ‘f**k off’.

She told of how she feared for her safety after he had been aggressive in the past and did not want to touch him. 

White described Patient A as ‘a nasty piece of work’ and admitted tapping using the walking sticks in order to rouse him, then to try and roll him over.
 
‘I was trying to keep him from falling asleep, I was just trying to keep him alert,’ she said.

‘I didn’t mean to harm him, at no point did I want to hurt the patient.

‘I don’t believe it was any more than tapping him, CCTV footage is open to interpretations.

‘If it had been a normal patient I didn’t have a history with then I would have taken him by the shoulders, but I didn’t want to do that with him.’
 
She admitted prodding Patient A would have been likely to make him more aggressive.

White, who was on duty with trainee paramedic Joanna Peakes, said police on the scene wanted to take Patient A home.

She insisted that Patient A had the capacity to refuse treatment: ‘He was drunk but he wasn’t so drunk that he didn’t know what was going on, he knew where he was and what was happening.

‘He managed to give the police his address and they seemed more than willing to take him home.’

Asked what she would change in hindsight, White replied: ‘I would do everything differently.

‘My fears for him would still be there but the first thing I would have done is called another crew to get some advice and explain I didn’t feel safe.

‘He is known for not being very nice to ambulance crews and I still think I was right for calling the police.’

Earlier Shannett Thompson, for the HPC, said: ‘Ms White did not perform assessments expected of a paramedic, including listening to his chest or breathing, or assessing his circulation, temperature or blood sugar levels.

‘She made an assumption that he was intoxicated and whether or not that was right, she didn’t seek to corroborate this with the facts.

‘Miss White says she didn’t have a problem taking him to Northampton General Hospital but he wouldn’t let her get near him.

‘But in CCTV footage she is seen standing quite close to Patient A.

‘She didn’t complete the patient report and resorted to tapping his legs with his walking sticks, which were lying next to him. She can be seen poking and prodding the patient.

‘It is the HPC’s case that Ms White’s actions amount to misconduct.

‘She was an experienced paramedic who didn’t lack the knowledge of skills to adequately assess Patient A and if he should have been taken to hospital.

‘In short, she was completely aware of what she needed to do but omitted to do so.

‘Her conduct falls short of the standard expected by health care professionals.’

Giving evidence Mark Gregory, clinical quality manager for the NHS Trust who led an investigation into the incident said: ‘From reviewing the CCTV footage it is apparent that Ms White had poked and prodded the patient.

‘She said he was thrashing around and was aggressive, so she was tapping his legs to gauge his level of consciousness.’

He said that a person who has dangerously low blood sugar levels or hypothermia could display similar symptoms to that of someone who is intoxicated.

‘It’s possible to mix them up and the only way to differentiate is to conduct a blood sugar test,’ he added.

The paramedic was summarily dismissed after a disciplinary hearing on October 5, 2010, before subsequently being reinstated with immediate effect. 

White admits failing to take Patient A to hospital, but denies poking and/or prodding the patient with his walking sticks or not helping him to his feet.

She also denies failing to undertake a thorough assessment including checking Patient A’s blood sugar levels and the reason for his collapse, as well as failing to complete a patient report form.

The hearing continues.