An investigation launched six months ago into the circumstances around a Darlington patient wrongly declared dead is still ongoing, the North East Ambulance Service has confirmed.

On October 13 2023, a woman was declared dead at her home by ambulance workers before taking her to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The Northern Echo was able to exclusively reveal that while at the hospital she came back to life. 

But, Durham Police confirmed days later that the woman in her 50s had sadly died.

The NEAS launched an investigation following the revelation and made an apology to the family stating that they were "deeply sorry" for any distress caused.

We contacted the service again this week to ask if there were any updates from the investigation and we were informed that it was still ongoing.

A spokesperson said: "There’s no update as of yet. But we will let you know as soon as we have one."

Andrew Hodge, Director of Paramedicine at North East Ambulance Service, previously said: "As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we opened an investigation and contacted the patient’s family.

"We are deeply sorry for the distress that this has caused them.  A full review of this incident is being undertaken and we are unable to comment any further at this stage.

"The colleagues involved are being supported appropriately and we will not be commenting further about any individuals at this point."

The incident in October happened just five months after a damning report was published into how NEAS ambulance workers covered up failings and withheld evidence from inquests.

The report, led by retired hospital boss Dame Marianne Griffiths, said: "Both this investigation and previous reports have found a number of failings in how the Trust should have responded to the incidents and then in their response to concerns about how failings were accepted and followed up.

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"It is important that the Trust formally and publicly reiterates that there have been failings and restates its wholehearted apologies to the families concerned.

"Leadership dysfunction was allowed to continue for far too long and this had a major impact on how teams within different directorates operated.

"A defensiveness grew and affected team operations, transparency, candour and judgement. They also clearly impacted the health and wellbeing of staff."