South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

3. Miss E complains about the lack of care the Trust provided to her late brother, Mr E, on 9 July 2019. She complains that an ambulance crew left her brother unconscious in the street and requiring medical care after two members of the public alerted them to him. Mr E sadly died four days later. Miss E believes the paramedic dismissed the alert because the area was known for housing alcoholics and the homeless.

4. Miss E also complains about the way the Trust handled her complaint. She says there were delays in the Trust responding and that the complaint response was dismissive, not compassionate, and the Trust did not make appropriate changes.

5. Miss E says if the crew had attended to Mr E the outcome for him may have been different (although she accepts, he may still have died). She says their actions compromised his dignity. Miss E says she is devastated by these events and feels angry and let down including because of the way the Trust handled her complaint.

6. Miss E would like the Trust to learn lessons from this incident and improve its service. Although she is happy the Trust has made a policy change, she does not feel this was enough.

7. Around midnight on 9 July 2019, an ambulance crew (including a paramedic and an ECA) were attending to a patient. When leaving the scene, two members of the public approached the crew and advised a person was lying on the ground nearby. We do not know if this person was Mr E or not at this stage, but Miss E believes it was.

8. The paramedics conducted a brief search but did not find the person lying on the ground. They did not report or document the incident.

9. The following morning, a member of the public found Mr E at around 7am on a side street near where the ambulance crew had been. A different ambulance crew arrived and took Mr E to hospital. CCTV footage showed he had fallen earlier that night at a different location and sustained an injury to his head. Mr E sadly died four days later.

10. On 20 November 2020, the HCPTS referred Miss E’s allegations against the paramedic to the conduct and competence committee. Miss E tells us their investigation is ongoing.

13. Before we decide if we should investigate a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. Some complaints can be looked at by us, and also by other organisations. We have considered whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint and whether it can provide the outcome Miss E seeks.

14. Miss E told us she is seeking service improvements to prevent the same mistakes from happening to anyone else. This is an outcome that we may be able to provide if we went on to consider the complaint further.

15. Miss E told us she has an ongoing case against the paramedic with the HCPTS. This is the fitness to practice adjudication service of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC regulates clinicians such as paramedics, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. It can reach decisions that a health professionals’ fitness to practice is impaired or it can remove them from its register.

16. It is Miss E’s choice to pursue her concerns about the paramedic with the HCPTS. However, we usually consider that only one investigation should take place into the actions of an organisation or individual. As such, even though the HCPTS may not be able to achieve the outcomes Miss E has asked us for, we cannot take any of her complaint about the Trust forward at this time. This is in line with our Service Model Policy and Guidance.

1. We have carefully considered Miss E’s complaint about the Trust. We have decided we will not take any of Miss E’s complaint further. This is because Miss E is already pursuing a case against the paramedic concerned with the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS).

2. We appreciate this decision may be disappointing as we know the complaint about her brother’s care means a lot to Miss E. We have explained the full reasons for this decision below.