Joshua Smith
2 Dec 2016 · Coroner Tony Brown · North Northumberland
The coroner's concerns
1. injured person unable to walk
“At 2.15 a.m. when [the deceased] made his 999 call he stated to Ambulance control that he had fallen from a cliff near Spittal Beach (which is on the south side of the River Tweed) and injured himself, that he was alone and was unable to walk”
2. delayed emergency response
“Police and other emergency services were not immediately alerted from the outset of the information provided in [the deceased]'s telephone call to 999”
3. delayed hazardous area response
“The Hazardous Area Response Team of North East Ambulance was not deployed to the incident until approximately 3 a.m. arriving at the scene under an hour later and were 1.5 miles away from the incident at the time [the deceased] was swept out to sea by action of the waves”
Responses
2016-0599-Response-by-Maritime-Coastguard-Agency.pdf ↗· Maritime and Coastguard Agency
2016-0599-Response-by-Northumberland-Fire-and-Rescue-Service.pdf ↗· Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service
2016-0599-Response-by-Northumbria-Police.pdf ↗· Northumbria Police
Stated action · March 2017
“a specific THRIVE training program for NEAS has been devised with commencement of delivery in March 2017”
Stated action
“a suitably trained "Dispatch Supervisor' rol,e has been introduced to take over from the Duty Manager and deal specifically with this type of emergency”
Stated action
“updated "Control action following 999 calls to water incidents" procedure in use at NEAS”
Stated action
“HM Coastguard are currently giving consideration to improving their Airwave capability”