Emily Stokes
19 May 2025 · Coroner Catherine Wood · North East Kent
The coroner's concerns
1. inadequate staff training for drug incident management
“1) Private ambulance providers were used and the training of the staff involved was minimal, the evidence heard indicated that they had a qualification called First Response Emergency Care level 4 which was a five day course and had little experience or training in relation to management of patients having taken drugs. Given that the teams on site were present and ambulances available at a music event where the risk of drug taking was deemed to be high more training should have been provided to assist”
2. delayed hospital alert for deteriorating patient
“There was a lack of clarity regarding who had responsibility for making a pre alert call to the hospital and given this young girl was significantly unwell this should have been done. This in part may have been due to the lack of recognition of the seriousness of her symptoms and therefore potentially linked with training of staff”
3. insufficient medical equipment on private ambulance
“The ambulance did not have the same equipment which an NHS Ambulance would have on board and was in essence very little more than a means of transport from the venue to the hospital and may have given a false sense of reassurance”