Medic who could have treated dying biker was stuck in meeting for hour

A paramedic was in an unnecessary meeting when she could have attended a collision that killed a father-of-five on his pregnant wife's birthday, an inquest has heard.

Aaron Morris, 31, who was about to become a father to twins, was left lying in the road for almost an hour after his motorbike collided with a car in Esh Winning, County Durham, on July 1, 2022. 

An ambulance should have been on the scene within 18 minutes of the initial 999 call, but Aaron suffered a 54 minute wait for a paramedic before passing away at University Hospital of North Durham later that day. 

The only available Clinical Team Leader on call at the time of the accident was in a meeting.

At County Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court on Wednesday, North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) admitted there were failings in the handling of Aaron's case. 

Today, Barrister Sam Harmel, representing Aaron's family, asked Senior Assistant Coroner, Crispin Oliver, to consider neglect in his conclusion of how Aaron came to his death. 

The father's wife Samantha Morris was 13 weeks pregnant with twins and celebrating her birthday when the crash happened. 

NEAS, which has been praised by Aaron's family and the coroner for its transparency and honesty in the inquest, told the court that a specialist medic, known as a Clinical Team Leader (CTL), was based approximately 9.1 miles away in Stanley at the time of the collision and could have attended.

However, CTL Sarah Hall was in a meeting she didn't need to be in and did not dispatch to the scene when a colleague queried whether she was available.

She was the only operating CTL at the time of the collision, an inquest heard. This was a new role within the Trust at the time.

Benjamin Barber, a locality manager and paramedic for the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), admitted to the court that Ms Hall should have stopped the meeting and attended the call. 

When asked by the Coroner if she should have 'stopped that and gone', Mr Barber said: 'Yes'. 

He told the court: 'I think it was just a misunderstanding that day that when Sarah was offered that job she should have responded.'

He added: 'The CTL role had only been in fruition for about six to eight weeks. The role that most of the people had moved into that position from was more of a managerial role before that day.  

'Previously you would stand yourself down to support staff in those meetings.'

Although it is unclear the time in which Ms Hall was asked to attend the scene, had she responded at 12.40pm, when 999 call operators had sufficient information about the incident to consider sending a CLT, Ms Hall could have been the first responder on scene, the inquest heard. 

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The court was told that she would have arrived between 1pm and 1.13pm and could have requested the support of an air ambulance.

Instead, one ambulance from a third party ambulance company, Ambulanz, arrived at 1.21pm after being allocated at 1.08pm. 

The crew were en-route to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) when Aaron suffered a cardiac arrest. 

The ambulance was diverted to the University Hospital of North Durham, where Aaron was pronounced dead at 6.40pm.

A NEAS serious incident report following his death said that Aaron had a 95% chance of survival of his injuries. Mr Barber, author of the report, told the inquest: 'There was a lot of failings through [Aaron's case] which led unfortunately to the outcome.'

The inquest is expected to conclude on Friday, November 15.