DEADLY DETOUR

Put simply, these guys are expected to save our lives, but we barely pay them. An experience tech would be lucky to earn 20k a year, so in short, i would have done the same thing. Your boss laughs at you when u ask for more money. The economy is bad, things are tight, but we get paid the same none the less. Nobody cares about health care workers, why should we care so much for the public. Pay people what they are worth, and they will be loyal to the job. Pay them peanuts, and u get what is happening in the world today. ;) this topic can be discussed all day long, but lets face it, the guy did his job, it was time to clock off, and his super was gonna have his ass for being over the clock...will be told not to ride the clock and stop milking the overtime...so like i said..i would have done the same.

By Nogod888.. Posted August 3 2009 at 2:01 PM.

It is a great shame that this paramedic took it upon himself to detour to station to finish on time. I also work for the Ambulance service in question and can assure you that this is not the normal practice. This type of handover was stopped years ago. I am sure that the paramedic is thoroughly regretting his actions as he knows that he will probably loose his job as his paramedic license. This is not the normal actions of the A&E crews in teesside. It is a great shame that the only press the ambulance service receives these days is not for all the good work and the saving of lives that we do but for one persons stupid mistake.

By Anon.. Posted June 9 2009 at 4:43 PM.

I am a Paramedic with the same service as these two men & i cannot condone what occurred, but in the interest of fairness, we must wait untill the results ot the enquiry, before passing judgement.

My colleagues & i accrue quite a lot of "running hours" which is the overtime paid to us when we work over our shift of 12hrs. We don't like it, but it is has been part of my job for 33 years.

An earlier blog by Jim was interesting. Does he want us to go even faster than we do at present, because even with lights & sirens turned on, we still have to abide by the laws of the land.

Yes you.re right Jim when you say that every second counts, but what about when an ambulance is held up by traffic, whose fault is that? Is it the person who is driving? for not anticipating which way the traffic moves, because not every one gets out of our way and it is not always possible for them to do so.

Please let the people in charge of the investigation deal with this & don't let us hold a kangeroo court, because then, we may as well start having public executions again.

My deepest sypathy & feelings, goes out to the family of the deceased

By joseppie123.. Posted June 8 2009 at 11:30 PM.

The paramedic was in a position where he was,by virtue of his extended clinical skills, solely responsible for the clinical care and well being of his patient. His decision to assume the role of driver is one that is difficult to understand. He can offer no excuse whatsoever for his reasons for returning to station instead of going direct to the nearest recieving hospital A&E Dept. His duty was to that patient and not to what plans he had that evening. It is not the fault of the service or anyone elses that this person could not see any further than his own interests. I only hope that whatever the reason for him having to finish on time was worth it. He has devalued all hard working members of the ambulance service who carry out their duties day in and day out.

By anon.. Posted June 8 2009 at 4:32 PM.

It's been interesting reading many of the comments made here. As mentioned in a previous post, I'm a Paramedic in Canada and have worked in EMS for about 15 years now. I understand that 12 hours can be long shifts and the crew may not have been performing at their peak. At the same time I have little sympathy for this. In the service I'm at, we work a rotation of 48 hours on, 96 hours off (we remain at our station for the duration) and we are quite steady volume wise. We sleep when we can, we eat when we can. I'm finding it difficult to continue this shift rotation but at the same time would never jeopardize the well-being of a critical patient. I also believe that while the member driving may be mostly responsible, virtually all patient care activities are a SHARED repsonsibility. This is why it's critical to allow the investigation come to a conclusion before deciding disciplinary action towards either party. Suspension with pay is reasonable for both pending the outcome. There may be many factors and much information that comes forth that hasn't been presented here. As an example, the attending crew member may have failed to recognize how serious the patient was. This may have skewed the impression of the driver making him believe the detour wasn't detrimental. At the same time, this may warrant possible action against both parties, not just the driver.

By Darcy.. Posted June 8 2009 at 9:25 AM.

Although I can't condone what has happened, lets not loose sight of the fact that the ambulance was at the patients house for some time giving the appropriate care and had stablised the patient before setting off with the relatives permission to stop off at the ambulance station to change drivers. It is unfortunate that the patient died in hospital, (my condolences to the family) but who is to say that he would not have died anyway! The patient was given the best clinical care by the advanced technician who was in the back with the patient. The question I would like to be answered is, if the patient was so poorly why wasn't the Paramedic, who has advanced clinical skills in the back with the patient?

By Anon.. Posted June 8 2009 at 9:04 AM.

this is totally unacceptable!the driver should face criminal charges as well as losing his job.
theres been bad enough issues with paramedics being attacked whilst attending calls and this will just make these issues worse.
i dont think it sounds fair to see the technician being sacked as he was in the back of the ambulance so i dont think he really had any say in the matter.And he did carry on in the ambulance to the hospital,not like he got out and went home too,so it wouldnt be fair to him.

By anon.. Posted June 8 2009 at 12:15 AM.

Any Cat A(8 mins) or B(19 mins) emergency passed to a crew at any point before the finish time, even 1 min before finish time the crew must attend. you cant question it with control, you have to go. If there is another crew available then control can send them to back them up. We work and get paid for 11 hours but have to be at work for 12 hours. We get 2 half hour unpaid breaks, where we cant respond(but thats a different story) and sometimes we dont get breaks untill 7 or 8 hours into shifts. Finishing late is a pain but it is part of the job really. We get paid of we go overtime so thats not a problem. Nothing is worse then finishing late especially after a night shift but its all part of the job. It needs to be investigated by the proper channels and the Paramedic dealt with appropriatley

By sarah smith.. Posted June 7 2009 at 8:11 PM.

So it isn't like this Paramedic to go off it because he was 15 minutes passed his finishing time,he works a 12 hour shift it is said and his mind is on finishing on time.So WHY when this paramedic got the call for this [I assume emergengy]call he didn't inform the control that he was about to finish and have the job passed to another crew??

By Colin D... Posted June 7 2009 at 6:09 PM.

As an Ambulanceman myself i can understand what happened even though i can in no way condone it. With increasing demands it is easy to end up doing 13 or even 14 hours a day. You dont have to pretend to like it but you DO have to get on with it. Its only professional to finish the job you start. Saying that however, the attendant in the back did remain with the patient to take care of him and has no doubt been put in a difficult position. Whilst in the back of an ambulance you are at the mercy of the driver. I think that the responsibility lies with the driver alone.

By anonymous.. Posted June 7 2009 at 5:52 PM.

i have known this paramedic for 20 odd yrs.and this is totally out of character.maybe if we didnt have to work 12 hour shifts and work for a service that didnt give a dam about the welfare of its staff these very rare events wouldnt happen.the paramedic would not have changed over if for one minute he thought that the patient would die.its easy for the rest of us to sit back and condemn the paramedic but we ALL make mistakes at work ,without exception.

By anon.. Posted June 7 2009 at 2:46 PM.

k. butcher, agreed but sacking the driver is not enough. He should be named and shamed publicly.

By Sami.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:54 PM.

Yes I agree, sack the ambulance driver. I know
what it is like to sit in an ambulance praying for it to go faster. I rushed my late wife into hospital on more than one occasion. Every second counts. Yes I say sack the ambulance driver. He had no right to go back to his depot to clock before taking his patient to hospital.

By Jim.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:54 PM.

Yes I agree, sack the ambulance driver. I know
what it is like to sit in an ambulance praying for it to go faster. I rushed my late wife into hospital on more than one occasion. Every second counts. Yes I say sack the ambulance driver. He had no right to go back to his depot to clock before taking his patient to hospital.

By Jim.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:52 PM.

Gilly, why is the guy who was in the back looking after the patient an idiot & incompetent?. He wouldn't have had much say in controlling where the ambulance was driven now would he? He has been labelled in the same vein as the driver, totally unfair in this tragic case, how do you know he wasn't fighting for the patients life all the way? you, the same as I, don't know. So until all the facts are out, wind your neck in the same as the others here & make an informed comment when all the information is available!

By Dave.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:28 PM.

There should be a criminal investigation about this.

By pete.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:26 PM.

It was posted earlier that it was due to the incompetence of the two crew members. The attendant was in the back all the time with the patient and remained throughout the journey. Why is he to blame and why has he been suspended?

By arthur.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:52 AM.

Sack the ambulance driver

By k butcher.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:43 AM.

paramedic from canada- i do agree though to some extent, they should be given every oppurtunity to survive, but if there was cash incentvie im sure they would of stayed on, he/she may of had the shift from hell, and not focused correctly

I personally would of took them myself, i tend to think about others, but.. well my arguement in previous comment box will explain

By mr b.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:11 AM.

Sack the ambulance driver ! he is not fit for this position.

By John.. Posted June 7 2009 at 11:21 AM.

The actions of this crew are very disturbing. I am a Paramedic (from Canada) and have attended to many seriously ill patients at or near shift change. Switching a crew member is simply not acceptable under these circumstances. It's also important to remember (and is by no means an excuse for their actions), that although this patient died doesn't mean it would not have happened anyway, even if the crew didn't divert to switch drivers. Many sick people die regardless of where they are or who is caring for them. What we need to do is make sure we give these patients every opportunity for survival. With the information reported in the article, it suggests this particular crew failed on this point.

By Darcy.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:30 AM.

THATS VERY BAD, SOMEONE LOST THEIR LIVES BECAUSE OF THIS!!

By LAURA X.. Posted June 7 2009 at 1:15 AM.

my grandad died at that hospital, after staff told me he had recovered well from an operation, so well he was put on a ward after a few hours in intensive care, after being on the ward for 3 days he died, cause of death could have been a small amount of fluff ingested while on the ward, this is what i was told by the staff, doesnt make sense to me, anyway if you choose to work in the medical area you cant just log out when youve done your shift especially when your half way through an emergancy, its about saving people not just letting them die because you need the bed space or youve worked a bit longer than you should have, read about loads of complaints about this hospital, close it down and make james cook the biggest more equipped in the area

By mandy.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:37 AM.

This story is absolutely appalling! A person has lost their life because someone was late finishing a shift, these people have played god through selfishness, they should most definitely be sacked from their positions! and as for the NHS giving their condolences big deal! its not going to bring back the person who died and no words are going to comfort the family of the poor person who died, this is one of the worst stories I have read and is something that could have been avoided if not for this idiot of a guy who wanted home. Good on the medic who reported these idiots I just wonder how many other people have suffered thru these two guys incompetency.

By Gilly.. Posted June 7 2009 at 12:18 AM.