Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Chronicle Live
Chronicle Live
National
Kali Lindsay

Paramedic who failed to provide life support to teenager Quinn Beadle struck off

A paramedic who failed to give life support to a teenager has been struck off.

Quinn Evie Milburn-Beadle was found hanged in Shildon, County Durham, on December 9, 2018.

Operational paramedic Gavin Wood, from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), travelled to the scene in a rapid response vehicle.

READ MORE: Hotel group slam comments made by restauranteur calling County Durham town 'Afghanistanley'

When he arrived, two police officers were already providing the 17-year-old with CPR. By the time a community paramedic and a respondent crew arrived, Mr Wood had made the decision to stop CPR and declared her deceased.

Following the incident, a clinician raised concerns that Mr Wood had not completed everything that he should have done with regards to treatment.

A Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) panel decided his fitness to practice was impaired and his actions amounted to misconduct.

The paramedic has now been struck off by the HCPTS panel.

Chairwoman of the panel Janet Fisher said: "The direction of the panel is the registrar is directed to strike the name of Gavin Wood from the register from the date this order comes into effect."

Allegations that Mr Wood did not follow North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust guidance and/or Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee Guidelines were found proven by the panel.

This included not taking a 30 second electrocardiogram examination prior to declaring recognition of life extinct, not applying an automated external defibrillator, and not continuing resuscitation efforts for a minimum period of 20 minutes.

The panel also found allegations Mr Wood's had stated to a colleague that an electrocardiogram had indicated Miss Beadle was asystolic when he had not undertaken an electrocardiogram examination were proven.

A number of allegations were also found not proven by the panel which included not saving defibrillator data to the Cloud and/or electronic patient care report, stating to colleagues the Zoll defibrillator was unable to print when this was not the case.

Allegations about posting a series of comments on Facebook that breached the NEAS NHS Foundation Trust Social Media Policy were also not proven.

Stephen Segasby, chief operating officer for North East Ambulance Service, said: “Gavin Wood is no longer employed by the North East Ambulance Service.

"The HCPC has concluded that the level of care he provided fell short of what patients and their loved ones should be able to rely upon, and what we expect of paramedics in our organisation.

“We would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Quinn’s family for their loss."

READ NEXT:

There are a number of mental health crisis helplines available to help and support people in crisis. They include:

Samaritans - You can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call 116 123 (free from any phone), email jo@samaritans.org or visit some branches in person. You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.