By Caroline Jones
The Derby Evening Telegraph
DERBY, England — An ambulance service tells paramedics not to go on their own into premises it considers dangerous. The revelation came during an inquest which heard a lone paramedic was told not to go into a pub until back-up arrived — but the two-man crew finished their break before attending.
Coroner Dr Robert Hunter said he could not “see the logic” of sending the paramedic when she was told not to enter the premises where the patient was.
He was speaking yesterday at the continuation of the inquest for Melissa Procter-Blain, who died after collapsing at the Crown pub, in Spondon, in July 2009.
The court had heard the paramedic sent to the emergency, who can not be named for legal reasons, parked her car some 100 yards from the pub and did not immediately leave the vehicle.
Because she arrived about six minutes after the 999 call was made, it met the ambulance service’s target time of eight minutes for lifethreatening, category-A calls.
But the inquest had already heard, according to ambulance logs, it was nine minutes and 48 seconds after.
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