Ambulance tea break death
Discussion
Surprised this hasn't been discussed here (sorry if it has and I've been blind/stupid):
Woman died after ambulance driver ignored 999 call while on tea break
An ambulance driver in Moray decided not to respond to a 999 call because he was on a tea break while a woman had a fatal heart attack 800 yards from his base.
A probe is under way after Owen McLaughlin refused to respond to the emergency call after Mandy Mathieson took ill only two minutes from where he was. The relief technician "chose" not to go to 33-year-old Mandy Mathieson's aid not far from the depot in Tomintoul.
An ambulance crew from Grantown had to rush 15 miles to her home which took 21 minutes.
Woman died after ambulance driver ignored 999 call while on tea break
An air ambulance was also scrambled but Miss Mathieson, who suffered a blood clot, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family is making a complaint to Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Ambulance Service.
His colleague, part-time driver Shirley Keith, has also complained about his actions and has not returned to work since the incident on October 16. She was also on duty that day but was at home in the village's Conglass Lane when Miss Mathieson's partner, Bobby Taylor, made the emergency call at 12.45pm.
The control centre in Inverness contacted Mr McLaughlin and asked him to attend. Miss Keith, 43, said: "I heard the air ambulance going over the top of my house. I noticed an ambulance at Mandy's house at the bottom of the road.
"I phoned the station. I said: 'Owen what's going on? There's an air ambulance at the bottom of my road'.
"His exact words were 'Shirley, you're not going to like what I'm about to say. They shouted me on my break but I refused to go." She added: "I was totally numb with disbelief, I just hung up the phone.
"We may not have been able to make a difference to Mandy but we were only two minutes away from her and he's got all the equipment, including a defibrillator, in the back of the ambulance.
"When Mandy really needed help he let her down. That is so wrong."
Family connection
An ironic twist to the saga is that Miss Mathieson's late grandfather, Charlie Skene, was the village's ambulance driver in the past and had successfully campaigned for a dedicated vehicle for the area.
Her sister, Michelle Fernie, 39, of Tomintoul, is also in the service, as an ambulance technician, while Miss Fernie's husband is a paramedic.
Miss Mathieson's uncle, also Charlie Skene, said: "We're disgusted that the service has come to this. We've just been so badly let down.
"You're supposed to be working to save someone's life. My father fought for years for a full time service in Tomintoul.
"The number of times we've been sitting at Christmas dinner and we'd have to get up and leave because somebody needed an ambulance, and then when we need it we're let down like this."
Miss Mathieson's family said their lives have been shattered by the loss of their "shining star".
And Miss Mathieson's partner, Bobby Taylor, 29, said he could not believe she was gone. He said: "No words can describe it. She was everything."
McLaughlin has been slated across all the papers, but it has been so badly reported and only a part story told:
Row over tea break cash is blamed after 999 tragedy
AN AMBULANCE manager has told how he is ashamed to be part of the service after a driver did not respond to a call-out to a woman who later died.
Mandy Mathieson, 33, died after suffering a heart attack just 800 yards from the ambulance station in the Speyside village of Tomintoul last month.
The station received a 999 call but the technician on duty, Owen McLauchlan, was on a rest break and did not respond to the call.
Another ambulance was sent from Grantown-on-Spey, arriving in 21 minutes, followed by an air ambulance eight minutes later, but Ms Mathieson died.
Mr McLauchlan, who was providing cover in Tomintoul while the full-time local crew - Ms Mathieson's sister and brother-in-law - were on holiday, has been suspended pending an investigation by the Health Professions Council.
The incident has outraged Ms Mathieson's family who are demanding an end to ambulance crews being allowed to opt out of responding to emergency calls during teabreaks.
It has also prompted anger from ambulance staff in the region, who have blamed a "pathetic" £250 payment offer to opt-out of rest breaks as the cause of the problem.
One ambulance manager, who asked not to be named, told The Scotsman: "It is not the first time this has happened in my division and it won't be the last. I feel ashamed to be a manager in this service."
He added: "On the face of it, the story will be presented that the member of staff was on a tea break and didn't respond. This is not the case."
He said the background to the incident can be traced to when the working week was cut from 40 hours to 37 hours. He claims many ambulance services across the UK then offered "availability payments" - some of around £1,200 a year - for staff to work during meal breaks. This is voluntary and staff have an annual opportunity to opt in or out of this.
He went on: "The SAS (Scottish Ambulance Service) offered a pathetic £250 per annum. It was the point of view of senior management staff that this was all they could afford.
"If a member of staff chose not to accept the money then they were not available during their meal breaks and were entitled to leave the station during their breaks. I know that some members of staff have chosen not to accept the availability payments because of the way they have been treated by staff."
A SAS spokesman said: "Under UK NHS pay arrangements, staff are entitled to an uninterrupted break during their shifts. In Scotland ambulance staff can waive that entitlement if they choose to do so in the interests of patient care."
Ms Mathieson's partner Bobby Taylor said he hopes the incident will force change.
"It's bad that it takes something like this to highlight a failure in the system," he said.
Woman died after ambulance driver ignored 999 call while on tea break
An ambulance driver in Moray decided not to respond to a 999 call because he was on a tea break while a woman had a fatal heart attack 800 yards from his base.
A probe is under way after Owen McLaughlin refused to respond to the emergency call after Mandy Mathieson took ill only two minutes from where he was. The relief technician "chose" not to go to 33-year-old Mandy Mathieson's aid not far from the depot in Tomintoul.
An ambulance crew from Grantown had to rush 15 miles to her home which took 21 minutes.
Woman died after ambulance driver ignored 999 call while on tea break
An air ambulance was also scrambled but Miss Mathieson, who suffered a blood clot, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family is making a complaint to Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Ambulance Service.
His colleague, part-time driver Shirley Keith, has also complained about his actions and has not returned to work since the incident on October 16. She was also on duty that day but was at home in the village's Conglass Lane when Miss Mathieson's partner, Bobby Taylor, made the emergency call at 12.45pm.
The control centre in Inverness contacted Mr McLaughlin and asked him to attend. Miss Keith, 43, said: "I heard the air ambulance going over the top of my house. I noticed an ambulance at Mandy's house at the bottom of the road.
"I phoned the station. I said: 'Owen what's going on? There's an air ambulance at the bottom of my road'.
"His exact words were 'Shirley, you're not going to like what I'm about to say. They shouted me on my break but I refused to go." She added: "I was totally numb with disbelief, I just hung up the phone.
"We may not have been able to make a difference to Mandy but we were only two minutes away from her and he's got all the equipment, including a defibrillator, in the back of the ambulance.
"When Mandy really needed help he let her down. That is so wrong."
Family connection
An ironic twist to the saga is that Miss Mathieson's late grandfather, Charlie Skene, was the village's ambulance driver in the past and had successfully campaigned for a dedicated vehicle for the area.
Her sister, Michelle Fernie, 39, of Tomintoul, is also in the service, as an ambulance technician, while Miss Fernie's husband is a paramedic.
Miss Mathieson's uncle, also Charlie Skene, said: "We're disgusted that the service has come to this. We've just been so badly let down.
"You're supposed to be working to save someone's life. My father fought for years for a full time service in Tomintoul.
"The number of times we've been sitting at Christmas dinner and we'd have to get up and leave because somebody needed an ambulance, and then when we need it we're let down like this."
Miss Mathieson's family said their lives have been shattered by the loss of their "shining star".
And Miss Mathieson's partner, Bobby Taylor, 29, said he could not believe she was gone. He said: "No words can describe it. She was everything."
McLaughlin has been slated across all the papers, but it has been so badly reported and only a part story told:
Row over tea break cash is blamed after 999 tragedy
AN AMBULANCE manager has told how he is ashamed to be part of the service after a driver did not respond to a call-out to a woman who later died.
Mandy Mathieson, 33, died after suffering a heart attack just 800 yards from the ambulance station in the Speyside village of Tomintoul last month.
The station received a 999 call but the technician on duty, Owen McLauchlan, was on a rest break and did not respond to the call.
Another ambulance was sent from Grantown-on-Spey, arriving in 21 minutes, followed by an air ambulance eight minutes later, but Ms Mathieson died.
Mr McLauchlan, who was providing cover in Tomintoul while the full-time local crew - Ms Mathieson's sister and brother-in-law - were on holiday, has been suspended pending an investigation by the Health Professions Council.
The incident has outraged Ms Mathieson's family who are demanding an end to ambulance crews being allowed to opt out of responding to emergency calls during teabreaks.
It has also prompted anger from ambulance staff in the region, who have blamed a "pathetic" £250 payment offer to opt-out of rest breaks as the cause of the problem.
One ambulance manager, who asked not to be named, told The Scotsman: "It is not the first time this has happened in my division and it won't be the last. I feel ashamed to be a manager in this service."
He added: "On the face of it, the story will be presented that the member of staff was on a tea break and didn't respond. This is not the case."
He said the background to the incident can be traced to when the working week was cut from 40 hours to 37 hours. He claims many ambulance services across the UK then offered "availability payments" - some of around £1,200 a year - for staff to work during meal breaks. This is voluntary and staff have an annual opportunity to opt in or out of this.
He went on: "The SAS (Scottish Ambulance Service) offered a pathetic £250 per annum. It was the point of view of senior management staff that this was all they could afford.
"If a member of staff chose not to accept the money then they were not available during their meal breaks and were entitled to leave the station during their breaks. I know that some members of staff have chosen not to accept the availability payments because of the way they have been treated by staff."
A SAS spokesman said: "Under UK NHS pay arrangements, staff are entitled to an uninterrupted break during their shifts. In Scotland ambulance staff can waive that entitlement if they choose to do so in the interests of patient care."
Ms Mathieson's partner Bobby Taylor said he hopes the incident will force change.
"It's bad that it takes something like this to highlight a failure in the system," he said.
If the rules allowed him not to go then he's not to blame, it's the rules fault and those people policing those rules, morals don't come in to it
Just like the rules allowed the bankers to do what they did without any blame being put on them and all the blame being put on those that created the rules ( the government) and policed those rules
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Just like the rules allowed the bankers to do what they did without any blame being put on them and all the blame being put on those that created the rules ( the government) and policed those rules
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
746529 said:
dundarach said:
746529 said:
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Now that is a scary thought - I sure hope humanity has not come to this........746529 said:
dundarach said:
746529 said:
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Now that is a scary thought - I sure hope humanity has not come to this........From last year
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7997614....
"Ambulance staff in Dorset have been told to ignore emergencies during meal breaks under new rules.
Workers have been told they must take two compulsory 30-minute breaks during a 12-hour shift and cannot respond to emergencies during this time."
From this year
http://www.pafo.co.uk/magazine/general-news/item/1...
"North East Ambulance Service Trust (NEAS) staff were offered a rise of up to £1,800 to be on call during breaks. But on Monday, union Unison rejected the offer with 80% of its paramedics and technicians voting in favour of action, including an over-time ban."
In Wales
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6418597.stm
"Under a new working agreement, workers are considered off duty at meal times and do not have to answer 999 calls."
Sounds like an absolutely ridiculous situation and now one guy is dragged through the mud because he "chose not to help" when in reality a crap system relies on guilting people to voluntarily skip their rest breaks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7997614....
"Ambulance staff in Dorset have been told to ignore emergencies during meal breaks under new rules.
Workers have been told they must take two compulsory 30-minute breaks during a 12-hour shift and cannot respond to emergencies during this time."
From this year
http://www.pafo.co.uk/magazine/general-news/item/1...
"North East Ambulance Service Trust (NEAS) staff were offered a rise of up to £1,800 to be on call during breaks. But on Monday, union Unison rejected the offer with 80% of its paramedics and technicians voting in favour of action, including an over-time ban."
In Wales
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6418597.stm
"Under a new working agreement, workers are considered off duty at meal times and do not have to answer 999 calls."
Sounds like an absolutely ridiculous situation and now one guy is dragged through the mud because he "chose not to help" when in reality a crap system relies on guilting people to voluntarily skip their rest breaks
freecar said:
746529 said:
dundarach said:
746529 said:
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Now that is a scary thought - I sure hope humanity has not come to this........Jinx said:
746529 said:
dundarach said:
746529 said:
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Now that is a scary thought - I sure hope humanity has not come to this........From what I've gathered when I've spoken to ambulance staff, they work much differently than you'd expect.
They are given jobs by their control room, they don't just shout up for whatever they feel like/are closest to. It's up to the control room to decide who to send. Once dispatched their satnav tells them the route to take, and they cannot deviate from that route. Same goes for the route back to the hospital.
Strange, but it is the NHS afterall.
They are given jobs by their control room, they don't just shout up for whatever they feel like/are closest to. It's up to the control room to decide who to send. Once dispatched their satnav tells them the route to take, and they cannot deviate from that route. Same goes for the route back to the hospital.
Strange, but it is the NHS afterall.
jamieboy said:
What does an ambulance driver / paramedic do when they're on duty, but not on a 'shout'?
Usually either sit at the ambulance station, or sit in a 'prime location'. That being a place on major roads, depending on where they cover, so they can quickly respond to any area quickly.killsta said:
jamieboy said:
What does an ambulance driver / paramedic do when they're on duty, but not on a 'shout'?
Usually either sit at the ambulance station, or sit in a 'prime location'. That being a place on major roads, depending on where they cover, so they can quickly respond to any area quickly.Edited by jamieboy on Thursday 4th November 14:26
Jesus TF Christ said:
freecar said:
746529 said:
dundarach said:
746529 said:
People are not morally responsible for their actions when they are following rules and proceedures
Now that is a scary thought - I sure hope humanity has not come to this........jamieboy said:
killsta said:
jamieboy said:
What does an ambulance driver / paramedic do when they're on duty, but not on a 'shout'?
Usually either sit at the ambulance station, or sit in a 'prime location'. That being a place on major roads, depending on where they cover, so they can quickly respond to any area quickly.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff