Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2022

Josephine Barker

Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2022-0077, written 7 Mar 2022. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.

Date of report7 Mar 2022
Reference2022-0077
DeceasedJosephine Barker
CoronerJessica Russell-Mitra
Coroner areaCounty of Surrey
CategoryEmergency services related deaths (2019 onwards)
Sourcejudiciary.uk record · original PDF
Responses published1

The report

Text extracted from the PDF text layer. Reproduced verbatim, including the scan's own layout.

IN THE SURREY CORONER’S COURT 

IN THE MATTER OF: Josephine Celia BARKER 

__________________________________________________________ 

The Inquest Touching the Death of  Josephine Celia BARKER 

A Regulation 28 Report – Action to Prevent Future Deaths 

__________________________________________________________ 

•

SECAMBS and NHS England

1 

CORONER 

J. Russell-Mitra  HM Assistant Coroner, for the County of Surrey

2 

CORONER’S LEGAL POWERS 

I 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. 

3 

INVESTIGATION and INQUEST 

An inquest into the death of Josephine Celia Barker was opened on 26th March 2019, 
concluded on 13th November 2021. 

I found that the cause of death was: 

 1a Intracranial haemorrhage. 

I concluded with a narrative conclusion as follows: 

 On 15th February 2019 Ms. Josephine Celia Barker at about 13.00 had an unwitnessed 
fall in Aldi car park, Kingston Road, Ewell, and suffered a serious head injury. She was 
attended to my members of the public who made five 999 calls over the course of two 
hours. The  incident was given a Category 3 disposition requiring emergency response 
within 2 hours by SECAMBS. At 15.33 one of the members of the  public assisting her 
flagged down a passing London Ambulance Service vehicle. Whilst loading her onto the 
ambulance, an ambulance from SECAMBS arrived. Ms Barker was taken to St George’s 
hospital, Tooting, where she underwent craniotomy. She succumbed to her injuries on 
3rd March 2019 at 12.25 

Accident contributed to by neglect   

I adjourned consideration of whether to write a report for the prevention of future 
deaths for further evidence to be provided by the 24th March 2021.  

4 

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH 

i.)  On  15th  February  2019  Ms  Josephine  Celia  Barker  (hereinafter  “Jo”  at  the 
behest of the family) fell in the car park of Aldi in Ewell in Epsom at around 
1300.  It  has  not  been  possible  to  identify  and  bring to  court  anyone  who 
witnessed the fall itself. Jo was as far as can be ascertained shopping alone, 
and  there  is  some  suggestion  she  was  carrying  something  across  the  car 
park,  perhaps  an  exercise  ball  and  that  she  fell  backwards.  There  is  no 
direct evidence of how that fall occurred. 
 evidence is that having 
arrived on the scene when called due to the fall, she spoke to Jo whislt on 
the floor and Jo could not say if she had fallen or tripped.   

ii.)   The scene in the aftermath of the fall was confused and confusing with various 

by-standers involved at different times.   

iii.)  It is possible that Jo had been hit by a reversing car but that the gentleman 

driving did not think he had hit her and had been reversing very slowly. An 
ambulance was called but the police were not asked for and no 
investigation took place. None of the people present at the time knew Jo. 
The fall seemed to happen very fast in a busy car park when the by-
standers were not expecting it and therefore no one appears to have been 
watching. 
 told me that a lady had seen it and had said Jo had 
been standing and then fell backwards without bracing her fall. She was 
reported to have been shaking with a potential seizure straight after the 
fall. 

iv.)   Having collapsed, fallen, tripped or been hit by the car, Jo landed on the floor 

and did not get up. She was rolled into the recovery position by one or 
more by-standers. A number of people had placed coats on her as it was a 

 
 
 
 
 cold February day and she was lying on the asphalt of the car park.   

v.)  She  was  attended  by  an  off-duty  paramedic.  Jo  was  drowsy  and  able  to 
respond  to  short  questions,  although  he  was  not  sure  whether  she 
understood  the  questions.  She  mostly  answered  “feel  sick”.  She  denied 
pain in her head and neck. She was nauseous and had vomiting episodes. 
The  off-duty paramedic  described trying to sit  her up and that she would 
wake up slightly, lean herself up on her elbow,  but want to lie down again 
immediately. Her head was felt for injury and initially there was not any to 
be  felt  but  a  bump  developed.  Throughout  she  was  able  to  respond  to 
voice by opening her eyes.   

The store manager came out and at some point a chair was provided as 
me he was concerned about Jo becoming too cold. Jo was able to weight bear to the 
chair and later to the ambulance trolley. She remained at all times confused, nauseous 
and drowsy. 

 told 

11.  There were 5 calls to 999 about Jo.  

12.  The  first  call:  13.04  lasted  12  mins  27  seconds.  This  call  has  been 
audited and there are concerns about it. In spite of the caller’s willingness 
to answer all questions asked of her as well as she could in a busy car park 
about a stranger the call is exited without triage (“early exit”).  

13.  The second call- 13.04 and lasted for 4 mins and 36 seconds. This is by 
another  bystander  who  is  further  away  than  the  first  caller.  This  caller 
initially thought it was a male who had been hit by a car but corrected it as 
the call went on. Again, the call handler was told that there was an off-duty 
paramedic  on  scene  and  did  not  ask  to  speak  to  him.  This  call  was 
terminated by the call handler on realisation that this was a duplicate call 
to the initial call that was still ongoing. No triage was done during this call 
although it would have been possible to do so.   

14.  During  these  two  calls,  as  soon  as  “unconscious”  was  said  this 
immediately leads to a Category 1 disposition. As the calls went on this was 
downgraded to Category 2 and then by about the middle of the first call, it 
had become a Category 3 disposition based on early exit of the call as the 
call handler did not consider triage possible.   

15.  The  first  ambulance  –  call  sign  219-  was  allocated  at  13.04:50  from 
Epsom ambulance station. At this point, Jo’s call was a still a category 2 (18 
minute  response).  As  the  call  with  the  first  caller  was  still  ongoing  and  it 
was  downgraded  to  category  3  (2  hr  response)  at  13.06:53,  call  sign  219 

  
  
  
  
 was  diverted  to  another  category  2  call.  Although  at  this  stage  the 
ambulance was very close to Jo, it was not within the 500m of the incident 
and therefore according to policy could be diverted to a more urgent call.   

16. The  second  ambulance-  call  sign  607-  was  allocated  at  13.07:45.  The 
crew had not had their meal break and according to policy they must have 
it by the fourth hour of their shift. It was unclear whether re-allocation to 
meal break can take place after dispatch.   

17.  The third 999 call was at 13.26:06). This is what is termed an ETA call, 
that is a call which is made by someone on scene to ascertain how long the 
ambulance  will  be.  The  call  was  dropped  or  lost.  The  policy  is  that  any 
dropped  call  will  trigger  three  call  backs  in  an  attempt  to  speak  to  the 
person calling. No call backs were made at all. There is no proffered reason 
why.  

18.  The  fourth  call  was  at  14.14  for  7  minutes  and  28  seconds.  It  was 
assumed that this was the first caller but was in fact a different new caller 
altogether  (“caller  4”).  This  is  relevant  because  during  an  ETA  call,  which 
this is classified as, the call handler (who is the same throughout save for 
on  call  2  which  was  happening  at  the  same  time  as  call  1)  asks  the 
“worsening  condition”  question.  This  question  should  be  asked  on  all 
follow-up calls and is phrased in various ways but is asked in case re-triage 
is  necessary.  It  is  asked  to  find  out  if  there  has  been  any  change  in  the 
initial  circumstances.  Jo  has  at  this  time  been  lying  on  the  ground  of  a 
supermarket  car  park  on  a  cold  February  day  during  a  busy  Friday 
lunchtime for at least an hour and fourteen minutes. When the call handler 
asks:  “Has  anything  got  worse  for  Jo?”  she  is  asking  a  question  against  a 
baseline that caller 4 does not know. Caller 4 told the handler that the lady 
who  called  the  ambulance  had  gone  and  they  (the  people  on  scene)  are 
doubting whether she called it because of the length of time. This indicates 
to the  call  handler  that  Caller  4  was  not  Caller 1  and  was  not  part  of  the 
initial phone call. She therefore would not know what had been told to the 
handler about Jo’s condition in the first instance. The call handler did not 
tell Caller 4 what she knew about Jo’s accident or her injuries or condition. 
Caller 4 described that Jo kept being sick and that “every time she gets her 
head  up  she  is  sick”.  When  the  call  handler  asks  if  the  vomiting  had  got 
worse  Caller  4  replies  “it’s  sort  of  the  same”.  Jo  has  at  this  point  been 
vomiting for over an hour following the fall. Caller 4 further described Jo as 
coming  in  and  out  of  consciousness:  rousable  if  shaken  but  only  to  say 
“sick, sick” and able to move only to be sick. No re-triage is done in spite of 
Caller 4’s willingness to answer questions. No attempt is made to speak to 
the off-duty paramedic who is still on scene.  

  
  
  
 19.  The next 999 call was at 14.40 from an off-duty HART paramedic who 
had  arrived on the  scene  as  a  passer-by.  He  gave  detailed  information  to 
the  call handler  whilst  asking for an ETA and he  passed the phone  to  the 
off-duty  paramedic  who  had  been  with  her  from  the  beginning.  The  off-
duty paramedic who had been with her for some time made a request for a 
category 2 due to Jo’s condition. The call handler checked with him if there 
was  any  immediate  threat  to  her  ABCs  (airway,  breathing,  consciousness) 
and  when  told  no  refused  the  category  2.  There  is  a  policy  that  if  a  call 
handler  is  asked  by  a  health  professional  with  a  patient  for  a  particular 
category  of  call  that  should  be  heeded  and  the  health  professional 
requesting  it  would  then  bear  the  responsibility  of  the  decision-making. 
This was not followed.  

20.  At  14.56  all  sign  -239  was  allocated  from  Redhill  Ambulance  station 
after the end of their meal break. After the allocation had been made and 
the  wheels  were  in  motion,  the  dispatcher  had  made  a  call  to  the  crew 
asking  them  if  they  would  like  to  attend  a  welfare  meeting  with  their 
manager.  Welfare  meetings  are  an  essential  way  of  taking  care  of  crew. 
They provide a debrief session after a crew has attended an incident that 
may have affected them (e.g. a death etc). I have listened to the call made 
to  the  crew.  The  crew  are  given  the  opportunity  to  be  stood  down  and 
return to their station or to continue on to Jo. The crew chose to continue 
to Jo. However, the  dispatcher tells them to wait where  they are  as their 
manager is in another meeting but will be with them shortly. The crew do 
as asked and return to the station. There is no policy about when to stand 
down  an  ambulance  in  these  circumstances.  There  are  times  after 
allocation when an ambulance can be stood down but this situation is not 
covered. The crew were already on the way, albeit they had not gone very 
far, and were turned back. This appeared to be a dispatcher decision and 
made  without  reference  to  Jo’s  situation  although  the  dispatcher  would 
have  been  aware  that  in  10  mins  they  would  be  in  breach  of  the  2  hour 
maximum  time-limit.  There  is  no  explanation  why  this  particular  decision 
was made only that there is a policy about welfare meetings in place.   

21.  At 15.04 it was 2 hours from the first call to the ambulance. SECAMBS 
policy requires a callback to anyone in Cat 3 who has been waiting over two 
hours  because  the  maximum  time  limit  for  arrival  of  the  ambulance  has 
been breached. There was no callback at any time nor any reason for the 
call handler not doing so.   

22. At  15.12:25  call  sign  281  was  allocated  to  Jo  and  was  at  that  time  in 
Merstham  having  been  stood  down  from  a  now  downgraded  category  2 
and  therefore  able  to  sent  to  Jo’s category  3 which was  one  of  the  older 
calls  still  in  the  system.  This  ambulance  arrived  at  the  Aldi  car  park  at 

  
  
  
 15.34:29.  

23.  At  around  15.30  one  of  the  off-duty  paramedics  flagged  down  a 
passing ambulance.  This was a London ambulance  call  sign R107 and  two 
paramedics  were  aboard.  Their  ambulance  was  on  its  way  to  a  cat  2 
incident  but  stopped to render  aid and assistance.  One  of the  ambulance 
paramedics stated that he was told Jo was in need of urgent assistance and 
that she had by this time been waiting over two hours for an ambulance. 
He  made  a  call  to  his  Emergency  Operation  Centre  and  the  original  cat  2 
call his vehicle was on was re-allocated and his vehicle was tasked with Jo.   

24. He was told she had collapsed and took a handover from the off-duty 
paramedic  who  had  been  on  scene  almost  throughout  The  ambulance 
paramedic (from R107) described JO as being hunched over with her head 
in  her  hands  and  not  well-  she  looked  grey,  haggard,  barely  moving  and 
was  able  to  grunt.  She  looked,  he  said,  time-critical.  She  was  unable  to 
reply verbally only to grunt. He described what he could see and what he 
had  been  told  to  his  Control  and  they  gave  him  a  category  and  formally 
assigned the job to them.   

25. Jo  was  rousable  to  pain  but  not  to  voice  and  with  a  Glasgow  Coma 
score (GCS) of 12 at this stage. There was a small contusion to the back of 
her  head.  R107  paramedics  expressed  concern  that  even  for  someone  fit 
and well there would have been a risk of hypothermia given the conditions 
on that day. There was concern that she had suffered a tonic-clonic seizure 
either  after  the  fall  as  she  had  been  described  to  have  fitted.  There  was 
concern about the potential of stoke, traumatic bleed on the brain or other 
neuroevent.  Her  temperature  was  34.7,  pulse  irregular  and  her  left  pupil 
was not reactive.   

26. R107  paramedics  categorised  the  incident  as  a  category  2  and  stated 
that it triggered the London Ambulance Service major trauma protocol.   

27. Some  people  assisted  Jo  to  the  trolley.  As  R107  paramedics  were 
assisting Jo into the ambulance, the SECAMBS vehicle arrived – that is call 
sign  281 which  had  been dispatched  from Merstham  at  15.12:25  and  the 
paramedics with that vehicle assisted.   

  
  
  
  
  
  
 28.  At 15.54 call sign R107 left the car park, Jo was placed onto high flow 
oxygen,  the  blue  lights  were  turned  on  and  the  hospital  alerted  to  her 
condition.  During the  journey to  the  hospital  she  was  reassessed  and  her 
pupils  were  dilated  and  blown,  she  was  agitated  with  irregular  pulse  and 
involuntary  movement  of  the  arms.  By  the  time  the  ambulance  reached 
SGH at 16.13 Jo’s GCS was 5.   

29.  A  CT  scan  of  Jo’s  head  showed  a  large  right-sided  acute  subdural 
haematoma  associated  with  a  cerebral  haematoma  affecting  the  right 
thalamus which had ruptured outwards. At 17.30 she was taken to theatre 
and  a  craniotomy  was  performed  which  was  successful  in  relieving  the 
pressure  on  the  brain.  However,  Jo’s  right  pupil  was  unresponsive  at  the 
end of the operation.   

30. Jo  was  transferred  to  Neurological  ICU  where  she  was  unstable  and 
with  raised  troponin  levels.  Sedation  was  lightened  and  she  showed 
extension  and  flexion  responses.  Her  right  pupil  reduced  in  size  and 
became  reactive.  She  was  treated  with  I/V  antibiotic  care  for  presumed 
sepsis.  She  became  more  stable  in  her  vital  signs  but  showed  no 
meaningful neurological improvement over the next few days and Treating 
doctors  discussed  her  situation  with  her  family  and  she  was  placed  into 
palliative  care  on  23rd  February  2019  and  succumbed  to  the  injury  on  3rd 
March 2019. Her time of death was 12.25.   
31. There  had  been  intraparenchymal  haemorrhage  from  rupture  of  the 
brain vasculature and subdual haemorrhage as direct trauma.  

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 could occur unless action is taken. In the 
circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.  

The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows. –  

1. 
The initial early exit of the first 999 call without full triage- this 
results in a category 3 response. There is no reason full triage could not 
have continued.   

2. 
London Ambulance have a different major trauma protocol to 
SECAMBS and the fact that Jo had been potentially hit by a car – even 
moving slowly- and had a head injury would have been enough for the 

  
  
  
  
 
 Major  Trauma  protocol  for  London  Ambulance.  SECAMBS  major 
trauma protocol was not triggered because even if she had been hit by 
a car it was not moving fast enough to justify a major trauma category 
(cat 2).   

3. 
An  off-duty  paramedic  was  on  scene  throughout  and  had 
clinical experience which was not asked for until the final 999 call when 
the  call handler was  passed to  him  by the  second off-duty paramedic 
(from  HART)  who  had  arrived  on  scene  and  made  the  call.  There  has 
been  no  reason  given  as to why  the off-duty  paramedic’s  assessment 
was not asked for earlier and  I was told that there is a policy in place 
with  reference  to  Health  Care  Professionals  which  has  since  been 
updated but does   

4. 
There was no Clinical Safety Navigator in place to manage the 
Welfare Stack. This is an alert that gives an indication to those viewing 
the  list  of  cases  waiting  for  an  ambulance  of  the  priority  of  the  call 
within  its  category.  Jo’s  case  had  a  number  of  features  which  would 
have  led  to  it  becoming  a  priority  within  its  category  and  potentially 
being upgraded:  the  incident was outside  and therefore less safe  and 
comfortable than waiting in a home/workplace; the day was very cold 
and  there  was  a  risk  of  hypothermia  particularly  as  Jo  was  lightly 
dressed  in  gym  clothes  and  lying  on  the  asphalt  of  the  car  park  floor 
and  as  time  passed  she  had  been  waiting  a  long  time  and  finally  her 
case breached its time limit.   

5. 
At no point did a clinician have any input into the calls after the 
initial  question  from  the  call  handler  of  call  1  as  to  whether  this  was 
major trauma or not and therefore there was no clinical assessment by 
SECAMBS of Jo’s condition over the following two and a half hours: she 
was  vomiting  for  over  two  hours  after  the  fall,  she  had  fluctuating 
consciousness and was rousable to shaking and not to voice. She had 
had a tonic-clonic seizure and had potentially been injured by being hit 
by a car. She was unable to open her eyes.   

6. 
There  should  have  been  a  clinical  review  at  2  hours.  I  have 
heard  that  there  was  not  because  there  were  not  enough  clinicians 
available.   

There  were  no  callbacks  made  either  to  the  caller  whose  call 

7. 
was dropped or to any of the callers at the 2 hour mark.   

8. 
There is a concern over the NHS Pathways tool’s ability to deal 
with  fluctuating  consciousness.  This  is  because  there  is  only  an 
assessment  on  conscious  or  on  unconscious  so  moving  between  the 
two  states  triggers  the  call  handler  to  move  into  the  conscious  or 
unconscious pathway respectively but is not able to take into account 
fully that conscious level is impaired or mixed. This is considered as a 
huge  challenge  to  any  call  handler  even  a  clinician  as  it  then  is  not 
established if the patient is conscious or unconscious and it forces the 
call handler to restart triage with each change. I was told that this can 

 cause issues as it means it then leads to lots more questions when the 
person on the scene is already in a difficult situation.   

When Jo was reported as drowsy, this was not considered as a 

9. 
new symptom and she was not re-triaged.   

10.  When  speaking  to  different  members  of  the  public  the 
questions  about  worsening  condition  were  not  contextualised  so  the 
caller  is  unable  to  be  sure  what  information  the  call  handler  already 
has.   

11. 
Jo’s vomiting was not the same symptom over time. Vomiting 
initially after a head injury is not the same as still vomiting after it two 
hours later.   

The  off-duty  paramedic  request  re  categorisartion  was  not 

12. 
followed and the challenge to it did not lead to a clinical discussion.   

The continuous CAD was not kept updated with details of Jo’s 

13. 
condition or other useful information when each of the calls came in.   

14. 
Call  sign  239  was  diverted  to  a  welfare  briefing  after  it  had 
been  allocated.  There  is  no  policy  guiding  making  this  decision  after 
allocation has been made and the ambulance is en route.   

6 

ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN 

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe your 
organisation has the power to take such action.  

7 

YOUR RESPONSE 

You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report. 
I, 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. 

8 

COPIES and PUBLICATION 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I have sent a copy of my report to the Chief Coroner and to the following Interested 
Persons;  

.  

I 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. 

9 

Signed: 

J. Russell-Mitra 

Dated this 7th March 2022

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 NHS Improvement (PDF)
J. Russell-Mitra 
HM Assistant  Coroner 
HM Coroner’s  Court 
Station  Approach 
Woking 
GU22 7AP 

Dear Ms Russell-Mitra,   

National Medical  Director and Interim 
Chief Executive  of NHS Improvement 
NHS England  & NHS Improvement  
Skipton House 
80 London  Road 
London 
SE1 6LH 

5 July 2022   

Re: Regulation  28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths  – Josephine  Celia Barker 
who died on 3 March 2021. 

Thank you for your Report to Prevent Future Deaths  (hereafter “Report”)  dated 7 
March 2022 concerning  the death  of Josephine  Celia Barker on 3 March 2021.  I 
appreciate  the extra time to complete this response.   

I would  firstly like to express  my deep  condolences  to Jo’s family.  
I note  the inquest  concluded  Jo’s death was a result  of: 

  1a Intracranial  haemorrhage. 

Following  the inquest,  you raised  14 matters  of concerns in your Report; the majority 
of these  are individual  to South East Coast  Ambulance service (SECAmb) and  have 
not been  responded  to here.   

NHS Digital  are responsible  for the NHS Pathways system and have commented on 
concerns number 1 and 8 from the report  as follows: 

1.  The  initial  early  exit  of  the  first  999  call  without  full  triage  -  this  results  in  a 
category 3 response.  There  is no reason  full triage  could not have continued. 
8.  There is a concern over the NHS Pathways tool’s  ability to deal with fluctuating 

consciousness. 

Function of NHS Pathways 

NHS  Pathways  is  a  programme  providing  the  Clinical  Decision  Support  System 
(CDSS) used  in NHS 111  and half of English  ambulance  services. This  triage  system 
supports  the  remote  assessment  of over 18 million  calls  per annum.  These  calls are 
managed  by  non-clinical  specially  trained  health  advisors  who  refer  the  patient  into 
suitable  services  based  on  the  patient’s  health  needs  at  the  time  of the  call.  These 
health  advisors  are supported  by clinicians  who  can provide  advice and  guidance  or 
who  can  take  over  the  call  if  the  situation  requires  it.  The  system  is  built  around  a 
clinical hierarchy, meaning  that life-threatening  problems,  assessed  at the start  of the 
call, trigger  ambulance responses,  progressing  through to less urgent problems  which 
require  a less  urgent  response  (or “disposition”)  in other  settings. 

NHS England and NHS Improvement 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
   
 Health  advisors  are trained  to assess  the symptoms presented  at the time of the call, 
ideally with the person  who the call is about. However, there may be occasions where 
the  assessment  is  done  through  a  3rd party  person  that  is  with  the  patient,  such  as 
children  or  those  unable  to  speak  on  the  phone.  In  this  case  an  assessment  of the 
symptoms could have been  undertaken  with the caller.   

“Early exit” from 999  calls 

NHS Pathways has a function called ‘Early Exit’ which the health advisors  can use  for 
certain scenarios  and reasons.   

There  are  various  reasons  why  a health  advisor  might  ‘early  exit’  a  call,  including  if 
they  identify  the  call  as  ‘complex’.  A  complex call  is  defined  as  ‘any  call  which isn’t 
straightforward  and  where  the  health  advisor  determines  that  they are  working  at  or 
beyond the limits  of their  knowledge’. 

This  broad  definition  is necessary  to create  a culture where  health  advisors  feel able 
to  be  honest  about  situations  where  they  are  struggling.  This  is  vital  from a  clinical 
safety perspective.  What  one person  finds challenging,  another  person  may not,  thus 
a  defined  list  of what  might  make a  call  ‘complex’  is  not  helpful  and  may indeed  be 
unsafe, if it encourages  health  advisors to try and manage a call, they find difficult, just 
because it’s ‘not on the list’. The reason for ending the assessment  can lead to different 
end points;  a Category 3 disposition  is just one of these end points,  which can include 
an  emergency  ambulance  dispatch,  transfer  to  a  clinician  for  further  validation  or 
closure  with no further action. 

In  this  case  “Triage  not  possible”  was  selected  which leads  to  more  options  as  why 
triage  is  not  possible  and,  “Other”  was  selected,  which was  not  the  correct route  as 
the  health  advisor  could  have  spoken  with  the  healthcare  professional  at  scene.  
Within  the “Other” option,  the  health  advisor is  presented  with a list  of life-threatening 
symptoms/conditions  which would  lead  to a higher  category such as  category 1 or 2.  
If  none  of  these  life-threatening  symptoms  are  present  a  category  3  response  is 
reached (as occurred in this case). 

There is  a requirement  for clinical  oversight  of category 3 or 4 calls which are subject 
to clinical validation  following their initial non-clinical  triage. If a clinician on review feels 
that  a  higher  response  is  required,  they  can  upgrade  that  response  based  on  their 
clinical assessment  of the incident.   

Dealing with fluctuating unconsciousness   

to 

the 

Health advisors  are supported  with training  materials  and undergo  core learning.  NHS 
Pathways  provides  a  number  of  training  materials  which  support  health  advisors 
identification  of  consciousness,  unconsciousness  or  reduced 
relating 
consciousness.  This includes a ‘Hot Topics on Levels of Consciousness  and Checking 
Breathing  and  Consciousness’.  Assessing  consciousness  is  also  heavily  featured 
throughout  the Pre-Module  Learning  for Core  Module  1 (with  a dedicated  section  on 
Levels  of Consciousness,  there  is a video  to support  this).  This  material  includes  the 
following  statement:  “If you were  presented  with  a patient  who  couldn’t  be woken  or 
was very difficult to wake (unconscious  or semi-conscious),  you would need  to select 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 ‘unconscious’.  Any  other  levels  of  consciousness  will  be  addressed  later  in  the 
system.” See Annex for supplementary  information. 

Health  advisors  are  trained  to  respond  to  situations  where  a  patient’s  level  of 
consciousness  changes  during  a  call.    If a  previously  unconscious  patient  recovers 
during  the  call the health  advisor  would use  the  “Restart  Triage”  button  to go back to 
the  start  of  the  assessment  and  begin  their  triage  again,  assessing  the  patient’s 
condition.   Restarting  the  triage  is  important  as  doing  this  changes  the  assessment 
questions  and  advice  that  that  would  appear  to the  health  advisor,  ensuring  that  the 
correct questioning  and advice is given. As well as “Restart Triage”  the health  advisor 
can  return  to  any  question  within  the  triage  and  change  the  answer.    Both  these 
principles  are  well  established  and  are  covered  within  the  training.    NHS Pathways 
have  not  been  advised  that  this  principle  is  a  challenging  one  for  health  advisors  to 
date  but  will  take  this  feedback into  account  in  our  ongoing  review and  governance 
cycle.    

If the patient  remains  semi-conscious,  or very difficult to wake up, they are trained  to 
continue  assessing  them  as  unconscious  and  dispatching  the  relevant  ambulance 
response.    If a  patient  regains  consciousness  after an  ambulance  is  dispatched  the 
process  is  the  same, however  the situation  would  be managed  by the  provider  site’s 
local policies about how to cancel the ambulance  and arrange  the appropriate  care for 
the patient.  If the opposite  happens  and a patient  becomes unconscious  during a call, 
there  is  an  option  built  into  the  “Early  Exit”  function  of NHS  Pathways  to  facilitate 
dispatch  of the  appropriate  ambulance  response.   The “EMERGENCY: unconscious, 
fitting  or  choking”  option  is  accessible  through  “Early  Exit”  and  allows  the  health 
advisor  to  quickly switch  from whatever  they  were  assessing  into  an  assessment  of 
these life-threatening  conditions.   This also allows  for first party calls where the patient 
suddenly  suffers  from  any  of  these  conditions  to  be  managed  quickly  and  safely 
without  the  need  for restarting  the  triage  and  swapping  between  1st  and  3rd  party, 
which can cause a significant delay. 

If the situation  keeps changing  health  advisors  are also able  to “Early Exit” at any 
point  on the basis  of the call becoming “complex” as described  above.   

Thank you for bringing  these  important  patient  safety issues  to my attention  and 
please  do not hesitate  to contact me should  you need any further information. 

Yours sincerely, 

National Medical  Director   
NHS England  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Annex – Supporting Material from NHS Pathways re consciousness. 

One of the first questions  in the system directly addresses  consciousness.   

The image below shows  a question  NHS Pathways  utilises  to assess  if a life-
threatening  presenting  condition  is present. 

The  text  below  is  information  from  the  Hot  Topic  on  ‘Checking  Breathing  and 
Consciousness  During Assessment’ 

“In  order  for  an  assessment  to  be  as  accurate  as  possible,  Health  Advisors  must 
ensure  that  the  answer they  receive is a true  reflection  of  the  patient’s  symptoms  at 
the  time  of the  call,  as  the system  presents  the  questions.  So, in  relation  to the 
patient’s  consciousness level and breathing,  you must ensure that: 

➢  the  answers to the  questions  you  ask a 3rd  party are  based on  the  here  and 

now 

➢  the  answers  aren’t  based  on  how  the  patient  was before  they,  for  example, 

went to sleep 

➢  the  answers aren’t  based  on  how they  were  the  last time  the  caller  checked 

on them 

 
 
 
 
 
 ➢  aren’t based on how the caller assumes  the patient  is right  now 

The  first question  that  this  principle  applies  to  is in  Module  0,  relating  to  whether  a 
patient  is unconscious,  fitting  or choking  right now.  It is vital that  the  information 
required  to answer this question  accurately is checked and confirmed  at the  time  it is   
presented.  Failure  to do so could have very serious consequences. 

The only way to gain  an accurate answer is to ask the caller to take the time to check 
the  patient  at  the  time  of  the  call.  Best practice would  be to  carry out  the  rest of the 
triage  while the patient  is next to the caller. 

What is consciousness? 

The supporting  information  for this part of the question  states: 

This means: 

They are awake or easily woken up 

They  will  be  able  to  respond  to  someone’s  voice  and  make  deliberate 

movements 

Or anyone who is ventilated  in a hospital environment 

It is crucial that, if there is ANY doubt  as to whether a patient  may be fully conscious, 
callers  are  asked  to  check  at  the  time  of  the  assessment.  This  includes  waking 
someone  up if  they are  asleep  to ensure  that  they can actually  be  woken easily and 
respond purposefully.”

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