Ambulance crew were wrong not to take man to hospital, but correct in not giving him CPR

What happened

Mr S collapsed at home and an ambulance was called. The crew decided not to take Mr S to hospital, and documented that they advised him to call 999 if it happened again, and that he should see his GP. Ms G spoke to an out–of–hours GP that night, who similarly advised her to call 999 if a further episode happened, but that otherwise Mr S should see his GP. Mr S saw his GP the following day and the doctor referred him to cardiology and neurology consultants. Staff did a number of tests but made no diagnosis.

Some months later, Ms G found her brother unresponsive on the floor. She called an ambulance and when it arrived, the crew confirmed Mr S had died. The crew did not perform CPR (chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation), or defibrillation on him.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. There was a failing in that the crew did not refer Mr S to hospital; however, we did not consider that this had any detrimental effect on him. Mr S saw his GP the following day who also confirmed that it was not necessary to send Mr S to hospital, and referred him for appropriate specialist investigations. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that had Mr S been taken to hospital he would have had any better care. The Trust had already acknowledged the failing, apologised, and undertook learning to stop this happening again.

When an ambulance crew was called to Mr S some months later, our investigation found that the crew acted appropriately in their decision not to perform CPR or defibrillation. We did not uphold this part of the complaint.