Yahoo News Aaron Morris' inquest hears from ambulance driver who didn't know way to hospital
An inquest has heard from an ambulance driver who had to be directed to the nearest hospital by the wife of a critically ill patient, because he didn't know the way.
David Robinson was working as an emergency care assistant based at Cramlington, Northumberland, when the ambulance he was driving was called to the scene of a collision, where Aaron Morris lay injured in the road. Aaron, 31, had suffered leg and chest injuries when the motorbike he was riding was involved in a collision with a car in Esh Winning, County Durham, on July 1, 2022.
But in the 54 minutes it took for a paramedic to arrive, his condition deteriorated. He suffered a cardiac arrest in the back of the ambulance and died in hospital that day.
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Andrew Fyfe, the paramedic who responded to the incident, told County Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court that Aaron's chest was "clearly badly injured" when he arrived on scene. He added: "He was crying out in pain. I was concerned that he would die right there and then on the ground."
The inquest heard that neither Andrew or David were familiar with the area as they were both based north of the River Tyne and had to seek advice from those on the scene about which major trauma centre was the closest.
The ambulance was being escorted by police to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) when Aaron went into cardiac arrest near Leadgate Roundabout, County Durham. Ambulance driver David was instructed by Andrew to divert to the nearest hospital, University Hospital of North Durham (UHND).
However, without knowledge of the local area, David relied on directions from Aaron's wife Samantha Morris. He could have re-routed the navigation system in the ambulance but this would have required the vehicle to pull over and added extra time to the journey, the inquest heard.
David told the inquest: "I seem to recall asking Samantha if [UHND] was far from where we were, because I wasn't familiar with the area. At that point Samantha offered to direct me. We were heading towards the RVI at that point so Durham Hospital was in the opposite direction. I had to turn the ambulance around at that point and Samantha did a fantastic job of directing me until the police escort took over again."
On Monday, Samantha, who was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident, told the inquest that she doesn't fault the driver for asking for directions but felt that the driver should have been given the tools to know where the nearest hospital is. She said she directed the ambulance until they reached the fire station close to UHND.
An investigation following a complaint to North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) from Samantha after the incident concluded that the driver of the third party ambulance, Ambulnz, was correct to ask for directions in the circumstances.
The inquest also heard written evidence from a NEAS clinical team leader who did a welfare check on the crew at the hospital following the call.
She said David was "quite shaken" and appeared relieved and happy to have spoken to someone about the incident. He confirmed that it was the first time someone has gone into cardiac arrest in the back of an ambulance in his time as an ambulance driver.
David has since left his role of emergency care assistant and now works supporting people with mental health.
The inquest continues.
