Amanda Gainford
21 Oct 2024 · Coroner Kate Roberts · Liverpool and Wirral
This report repeats 1 earlier warning. See the linked reports.
The coroner's concerns
1. inadequate medical training of call handlers
“call handlers for the service are not medically trained but receive basic medical training”
2. lack of awareness among clinicians of escalation options
“Doctor was unaware that he had the ability to challenge the call handler categorisation and to seek a review by a clinician at NWAS”
3. limited knowledge of escalation procedures among clinicians
“only 1 was aware of the ability to escalate concerns regarding a patient and the categorisation of a 999 call to the Ambulance service”
Linked reports
Closely relatedConfidence 0.90 · high
Earlier report
“Call handlers are not clinically trained and are completely reliant on the Protocol for categorising responses”
This report
“call handlers for the service are not medically trained but receive basic medical training”
Responses
2024-0571-Response-from-NHS-England.pdf ↗· NHS England
Stated action · March 2021
“NHS England has published the National Framework for healthcare professional ambulance responses, which was last updated in March 2021.”