A paramedic has been struck off after falsely claiming she tried to save a toddler killed in a road accident by a minibus driver who was later jailed.
Samantha-Joy Jones tearfully told colleagues she attempted resuscitating two-year-old twin girl Natasha Packman following the collision in Avonmouth, Bristol, a professional misconduct panel heard.
Ms Jones’s claim was part of a web of lies to inflate her qualifications and experience, including on job application forms and in interviews, which could have harmed members of the public, the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) ruled.
In fact, she had treated Natasha’s mother Julie who was injured and taken to hospital, as was twin sister Sophie.
Natasha died when a 29-seat vehicle driven by Mircea Husarencu, who had been in the country just a week and received five days’ training, hit her mum’s car head-on as he turned right into a wine warehouse on April 28, 2015.
Husarencu was subsequently jailed for 10 months at Bristol Crown Court after admitting death by careless driving.
At the HCPTS hearing, which concluded last week (June 21), Ms Jones denied lying about the incident and produced a statement from a colleague, referred to as “BH”, apparently confirming her story that he had attended the road crash with her.
But her manager “RJ”, director of operations at Bristol Ambulance Service, which provided paramedics to South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST), including Ms Jones who was employed by an agency, provided rebuttal evidence to prove she had been partnered on the shift with a different ambulance crew member.
BH was not on duty that day, according to documents presented by RJ.
The HCPTS ruling said: “RJ said that the registrant [Ms Jones] had attended a road traffic accident on 28 April, 2015, where one of a pair of twins travelling with their mother had died.
“He said that the registrant had returned from the incident in tears, saying she had attempted to resuscitate the child.
“However, later that day he heard from a SWAST officer who wished to pass thanks to the registrant for attending to the mother.”
Giving evidence, Ms Jones said the child she had resuscitated was from a different incident and produced a personal diary entry which confirmed she had not worked with BH on April 28 but had done so the previous day.
“She said that the job entered on 27 April, 2015, may have been the child resuscitation incident she was referring to,” the ruling continued.
“RJ said he would have remembered a child resuscitation incident.
“He was clear the registrant was referring to the road traffic accident on 28 April, 2015, when she had said she attempted to resuscitate the child.
“RJ, by reference to the roster documentation, established that this was not the case.
“The panel did not accept BH’s statement nor the registrant’s explanation.”
The ruling added: “The panel found some of the registrant’s evidence to be wholly lacking in credibility.”
Ms Jones admitted some of the lesser allegations against her, including wearing a “critical care paramedic” (CCP) badge on duty in Bristol, but denied the bulk of the charges.
However, the panel found all of them proven, among them that the CCP badge wrongly indicated to colleagues and the public that she had a higher level of skills and expertise than her actual entry-level “band five” paramedic status.
The ruling said Ms Jones made the false claims “in order to enhance her prospects of gaining employment or to increase her status and reputation”.
It added: “The panel was satisfied that the registrant knew she was not a qualified CCP and that her actions, in attempting to demonstrate that she was, were dishonest.
“In these circumstances, the panel concluded that in each case the registrant acted dishonestly.
“The panel has found there to be a number of acts of dishonesty, some of which occurred when the registrant was applying for employment.
“By exaggerating her qualifications and skills, the registrant’s dishonest actions had the potential to cause harm to service users, who might have been deprived of competent treatment.
“Furthermore, these dishonest acts occurred on a number of occasions over a period of several years and despite warnings from her employers.
“The panel cannot be satisfied that misconduct of this nature would not be repeated.
“Indeed, it has concluded that there remains a high risk of repetition.”
Natasha was killed when the Toyota Yaris she was travelling in was hit head-on by the minibus on Kings Weston Lane.
She was rushed to the Bristol Royal Infirmary but died due to substantial head injuries.
