HPC v Mr AD (Paramedic)
A decision of the panel of the Health Professions Council Conduct and Competence Committee
22 September 2009
Mr AD, a paramedic, has been struck off the HPC Register for failing to recognise the serious condition of a patient, failing to attempt to get access to the patient, and giving false clinical information whilst attending an emergency call with the Welsh Ambulance Service.
A panel of the HPC Conduct and Competence Committee heard how AD when attending to the patient falsely claimed that the patient was conscious and spoke at home lucidly. The Panel found through witness evidence that the patient was in fact not breathing and was completely unresponsive.
The Panel also heard how AD suggested that the Recognition of Life Extinct (ROLE) procedure could be applied, despite the patient not falling within the ROLE criteria, gave a verbally inaccurate handover to the receiving hospital staff, and inaccurately completed the Patient Clinical Record.
Panel Chair Mrs Elspeth Metcalfe commented:
“At the time of these events Mr Davies had been a qualified Paramedic for at least five years, and the fact he was working from a Rapid Response Vehicle demonstrated that he had a belief in his own abilities as a Paramedic. The Panel therefore finds that the identified shortcomings were deliberate”
“The shortcomings found to be proved are very serious, so serious that the Panel could not contemplate Mr Davies being permitted to return to practise.”
The panel decided the most appropriate action was to strike AD from the Register.
