Tesco staff lacking basic first aid training did not notice a young woman who collapsed on the floor of a north London store had stopped breathing, an inquest has heard.
Gabriella Jaiyesimi, 20, suffered seizures and then a cardiac arrest when she was in the Tesco Extra in Colney Hatch, Barnet.
She was hospitalised with a brain injury after the collapse on January 24, and died around a month later.
Coroner Mary Hassell, who investigated the death, has now delivered a damning report warning that other shoppers could be put at risk without urgent changes.
“It is impossible to say whether, if effective first aid and CPR had been administered, Ms Jaiyesimi’s life could have been saved”, she wrote.
“However, it is surely in the public interest that at least basic first aid can be offered to shoppers as well as to staff, and I heard that Tesco is committed to looking after its shoppers.
“When Gabriella Jaiyesimi suffered a cardiac arrest, there was no Tesco first aider working at Colney Hatch.”
The inquest was told Ms Jaiyesimi suffered a fit and received swift support from one Tesco staffer who recognised what was happening and called for an ambulance.
The supermarket duty manager took charge of the situation, but no one put Ms Jaiyesimi into the recovery position, risking a blockage that could thwart her breathing.
“When Ms Jaiyesimi stopped breathing, nobody recognised this, though they were looking at her and made one inadequate attempt to feel for breathing - by placing a single finger somewhere near her nose”, said the coroner.
“No person ever attempted to check Ms Jaiyesimi’s pulse to see if her heart was still beating.
“Even if they had identified her cardiac arrest, there was nobody present who would have started CPR.
“Nobody thought of fetching one of the store defibrillators.”
The inquest heard the ambulance services were not informed about Ms Jaiyesimi’s perilous position as staff did not understand what was happening.
In her report calling for urgent action to prevent future deaths, Ms Hassell pointed out that the store’s security guard – from contractors Total Security Services (TSS) - was first aid trained, but he did not reveal this to Tesco staff.
“Despite being the only first aider present, he took no responsibility at scene”, the coroner wrote.
“He failed to offer Ms Jaiyesimi or the duty manager any meaningful support at all.”
She also raised concerns that the security guard, who was questioned during the inquest, said his training amounted to a “tick box exercise” when renewing his SIA (Security Industry Authority) licence.
When told by the duty manager to help Ms Jaiyesimi, the guard failed to check for a pulse and did a “wholly ineffective” check on her breathing.
He said he did not go for a defibrillator as he did not know how to work one, and he failed to follow the 999 operator’s instruction to put Ms Jaiyesimi in the recovery position.
The coroner’s report has been sent to the chief executive of Tesco, as well as the bosses at TSS and the SIA.
They have all been given until October 21 to set out its response to the concerns and criticisms.
When contacted Tesco expressed condolences to Ms Jaiyesimi’s friends and family, and it is reviewing its processes for responding to medical emergencies in light of the coroner’s findings.
