Patient declared dead by ambulance paramedics wakes up hours later

A patient who was declared ‘dead’ by paramedics woke up in hospital hours later.

The individual, who has not been named for legal reasons, was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital by medics from the North East Ambulance Service last week.

The patient had been declared dead following an incident earlier that day, but woke up in hospital. the Northern Echo reports.

The current condition of the patient has not been shared.

North East Ambulance Service say it has apologised for the incident and that an investigation has been launched.

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Director of Paramedicine Andrew Hodge said: “As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we opened an investigation and contacted the patient’s family.

“We are deeply sorry for the distress that this has caused them.

“A full review of this incident is being undertaken and we are unable to comment any further at this stage.

“The colleagues involved are being supported appropriately and we will not be commenting further about any individuals at this point.”

Five months ago, North East Ambulance Service was criticised in a report that looked into ambulance staff covering up errors and withholding evidence from coroners.

The report read in part: “Both this investigation and previous reports have found a number of failings in how the Trust should have responded to the incidents and then in their response to concerns about how failings were accepted and followed up.”

The report was led by ex-hospital boss Dame Marianne Griffiths, which said: "Both this investigation and previous reports have found a number of failings in how the Trust should have responded to the incidents and then in their response to concerns about how failings were accepted and followed up.

"It is important that the Trust formally and publicly reiterates that there have been failings and restates its wholehearted apologies to the families concerned.

“Leadership dysfunction was allowed to continue for far too long and this had a major impact on how teams within different directorates operated.

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"A defensiveness grew and affected team operations, transparency, candour and judgement. They also clearly impacted the health and wellbeing of staff."

Dame Griffiths also paid tribute to the families who shared their experiences, adding: “It is clear that they are not only devastated by the loss of their loved ones but also by the ambulance service’s response to the legitimate questions about their care.”

North East Ambulance Service responded to the report in a statement, which: "We acknowledge and accept that NEAS has contributed to the significant distress and ongoing grief for the relatives and friends of the four patients who feature in her review. We have written to the families to apologise. We reiterate again our unreserved apology for the distress caused."

It added that the report 'makes it clear there were shortfalls in the standard of care provided to these four patients' and 'also details where our handling and management of the investigations which followed, and the sharing of information with the coroners in some of these cases, should have been better'.

"We remain committed to ensuring improvements are embedded into our service. We will continue to work with our regulators to provide assurance to our patients, public and stakeholders in this respect." it concluded.