Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2015

Kevin Hoey

Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2015-0101, written 17 Mar 2015. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.

Date of report17 Mar 2015
Reference2015-0101
DeceasedKevin Hoey
CoronerWilliam Morris
Coroner areaCambridgeshire (North & East)
CategoryCommunity health care and emergency services related deaths
Organisation namedEast Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust · East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Sourcejudiciary.uk record · original PDF
Responses published1

The report

Text recovered by OCR from a scanned PDF. OCR is imperfect: check anything you rely on against the source PDF. Reproduced verbatim, including the scan's own layout.

William Reade Morris
Senior Coroner for North & East Cambridgeshire

wh
REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS

THIS REPORT IS BEING SENT TO: East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust
(EEAST)

1 CORONER

| am William Reade Morris, Senior Coroner for North & East Cambridgeshire

CAT RADALEDIOTESAT DADO m™-0___—=EEeeeo=s$$|
2 CORONER’S LEGAL POWERS

| make this report under paragraph 7, Schedule 5, of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and
regulations 28 and 29 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013.

http://www. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/schedule/5/paragraph/7
http://www. legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1629/part/7/made

3 INVESTIGATION and INQUEST

On 16/07/2014 | commenced an investigation into the death of Kevin Patrick Hoey, 55 . The
investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 12 March 2015. The conclusion of the
inquest was Narrative conclusion - The deceased was Kevin Patrick Hoey. Shortly after 6pm on
the 14th July 2014 the deceased at his home at Regate Villa, Foul Anchor, Tydd Gote, Wisbech
was suffering from chest pain and an ambulance was called. He was attended in due course by
paramedics from both East Midlands Ambulance Service and East of England Ambulance
Service. Reading from ECGs were taken and blood pressure recorded. Clinical review has
established the deceased should have been treated as time-critical and taken to hospital. This
did not happen and the deceased was incorrectly assessed as appropriate to leave at home.
Early in the morning of the 15th July 2014 members of the deceased's family discovered his
condition had severely deteriorated. An ambulance was called and in due course he was
attended by paramedics from East of England Ambulance Service. Death was pronounced at
02.43 at his home address and the cause of death has been 1a) Haemothorax and 1b) Acute
aortic dissection. Haemothorax Acute Aortic Dissection

4 CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH 7
Kevin Hoey was aged 55 years and had complained of chest pains whilst painting the exterior of
the house. An ambulance was called at around 1840hrs and he was diagnosed with a panic
attack. Ambulance called again when pain increased. Paramedics attended and resuscitation
was unsuccessful. Death was confirmed at 0243hrs by Paramedic ay

5 CORONER’S CONCERNS

During the course of the inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my
opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it
is my statutory duty to report to you.

The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows. —

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust should liaise with East Midlands Ambulance
Service NHS Trust in relation to training under the EMAS Paramedic Pathfinder Programme,
identifying whether a patient is suitable for treatment in the Community or requires hospital
transfer, with a view to East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust considering introduction

of training similar to that under the EMAS Paramedic Pathfinder Programme.

Coroner's Office, Lawrence Court, Princes Street, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE29 3PA
Tel 0345 045 1364 | Fax 01480 372777

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and | believe you EEAST
have the power to take such action.

YOUR RESPONSE

You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, namely by
28 April 2015. |, the coroner, may extend the period.

Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the
timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed.

COPIES and PUBLICATION

copy of my report to the Chief Coroner and to the following Interested Persons
Legal Representative for EMAS and The Hoey Family.
| am also under a duty to send the Chief Coroner a copy of your response.

The Chief Coroner may publish either or both in a complete or redacted or summary form. He
may send a copy of this report to any person who he believes may find it useful or of interest.
You may make representations to me, the coroner, at the time of your response, about the
release or the publication of your response by the Chief Coroner.

Dated 17 March 2015

Signature Coll

Senior Coroner for North & East Cambridgeshire

Coroner's Office, Lawrence Court, Princes Street, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE29 3PA
Tel 0345 045 1364 | Fax 01480372777

Responses

1 response published against this report on judiciary.uk. A response is a body's written reply to the coroner's concerns; publication is at the discretion of the Chief Coroner's office, so an absent response does not mean nobody replied.

Response from East of England Ambulance Service (PDF)
Our reference :     

Date 

:     28 April 2015 

Mr William Morris 
Senior Coroner for North and East Cambridgeshire 
Registration and Coroners Services 
Lawrence Court 
Princes Street 
Huntingdon 
PE29 3PA 

Dear Mr Morris, 

Ambulance Headquarters 
Melbourn Station 
Whiting Way 
Melbourn 
Cambs 
SG8 6EN 

0845 6013733 

I write further to an email received from 
 Coroner’s Officer, on 19 March 2015, to 
which she attached a Regulation 28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths. This report was made by you 
following  the  inquest  into  the  death  of  Kevin  Hoey,  which  concluded  on  12  March  2015,  and 
recommended  that  the  Trust  consider  introducing  training  similar  to  East  Midlands  Ambulance 
Service NHS Trust (EMAS) in line with their Paramedic Pathfinder Programme.  

Prior to the inquest, one of the Trust’s Clinical Managers had already met with our EMAS colleagues 
and  discussed  the  Paramedic  Pathfinder  Programme,  with  a  view  to  suggesting  that  the  Trust 
consider implementing this training.  The Trust welcomes any improvements to support paramedics 
in  their  decision  making  and  will  be  reviewing  this  case  to  ensure  that  learning  is  embedded  to 
mitigate any chance of this being repeated. The Trust would respectfully like to point out that in a 
case where the initial patient assessment and history taking was completed by another healthcare 
professional from EMAS, the EEAST clinicians would have taken a professional steer from this first 
clinical  contact.    Whilst  the  Trust  recognises  this  may  have  ultimately  contributed  to  this  patient’s 
tragic  deterioration,  the  Trust  does  acknowledge  that  the  primary  assessment  had  already  been 
undertaken by a registered professional.        

Following your recommendation, the Paramedic Pathfinder Programme has been discussed at the 
Trust’s Clinical Quality and Safety Group (CQSG), which is attended by the Locality Directors and a 
number of senior clinical managers. As Chair of CQSG, I requested that the Paramedic Pathfinder 
Programme be reviewed by a group of clinicians to scope out how this could be implemented within 
the  Trust  and  what  the  implications  are  to  our  current  training  programme.  This  piece  of  work  is 
currently ongoing. 

I would be happy to update you further once this review has been completed. Please do not hesitate 
to contact me should you require any further information in the meantime. 

Yours sincerely, 

Director of Nursing and Clinical Quality 

Chief Executive: Dr Anthony C. Marsh QAM SBStJ DSci (Hon) MBA MSc FASI 
Chair: Sarah Boulton

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