October 2017
Date: 31 October 2017
- Details:
A crew were called out to attend the complainant’s daughter who had suffered burns to her thigh, arm, hand and face following an oil pan fire. The complainant was concerned about the lack of urgency in the 999 call, the fact that the attending crew left her daughter at home following their assessment and the reason they did not put a burn face dressing on her.
- Findings:
As part of the investigation the Investigating Manager reviewed all the documentation, listened to the 999 call recordings and had a discussion with the complainant regarding the incident. The Investigating Manager met with both the crew members to discuss the incident. The Investigating Manager identified the training that takes place on both the university Paramedic course and the in-house Student paramedic course to establish if there are gaps in the learning which could have impacted the assessment and decision to not convey.
- Lesson learnt / action taken:
In their statements, both clinicians stated that they were unaware of the severity of the burns as when they assessed the patient the injuries did not seem as bad as they turned out to be. They were unaware that the patient had been burnt on the face but reflected that they should have been more thorough with their assessment. The crews have identified that they needed to do further study into the treatment of non-time critical burns especially thermal burns which they patient had suffered. They have both sent their apologies to the patient and her family. Following this investigation, the Investigating Manager made sure that all staff were getting the most up to date and in depth burns training possible, that the staff members involved completed reflective practices to identify and learn from the failings and also he ensured that a clinical update regarding burns treatment was circulated to all clinical members of staff within the Trust.
- Date:01 October 2017