Paramedic did not realise woman was having a stroke

A paramedic who failed to recognise a woman was having a stroke in a petrol station car park has been thrown out of the profession.

Paul Hawker drove his ambulance onto the forecourt of Sainsbury’s service station in Weymouth, Dorset, on 24 October 2019.

As he went to pay, one of the sales assistants from the store told him the woman might be having a stroke in her car, the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) heard.

She told the hearing she thought the woman was having a stroke because she looked ‘all clammy and grey’, could not speak properly and ‘it looked like the side of her face had drooped’.

In her statement she added that the woman’s speech was becoming increasingly slurred until she could not understand what she was saying.

It was at this point she asked Hawker to check her out.

CCTV footage showed that he spent only 48 seconds with the woman then said: ‘We’ve finished now, we’re clocking off.’

The sales assistant said: ‘I looked at him in amazement and then looked at the patient,’ she added. ‘He walked to the store and paid for his fuel.’

Hawker admitted not asking for a history of the woman, who had previously had a stroke, something the sales assistant was aware of.

The South Western Ambulance Service paramedic said the lady looked ‘like any other person you might meet in the street.’

Hawker said he asked her if she needed help, had any pain or wanted to go to hospital and she said no.

He also said that after he heard a relative was coming to pick up the woman, he told her: ‘OK, that’s fine if you don’t need any help. But if for some reason in the future you need us, call 999.’

In response to the sales assistant’s claims that he looked at his watch, he said he wasn’t wearing one because he is not supposed to while working.

The HCPTS found Hawker’s evidence to be ‘inherently implausible’ and said that he failed to provide any credible explanation as to why he had chosen not to engage with the woman.

‘There remains a risk of repetition of the Registrant’s conduct,’ they said. ‘Here therefore presents a risk to the public if permitted to practise.’

Hawker was emploted by the Accident and Emergency Operations Department of South Western Ambulance Services NHS Foundation Trust.