North East Ambulance Service told to release damning report

The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) previously refused to release the ‘Audit One’ report which details how coroners were “not being made aware of concerns and/or investigations being carried out by the trust in a timely fashion” after patients died.

It contains information about the deaths of six people including how information was doctored after the death of 17-year-old Quinn Beadle from Shildon, and how evidence was withheld about paramedics deciding to stop and refuel on the way to 62-year-old Peter Coates from Redcar who was struggling to breathe and died before they reached him.

The report was leaked to the press in 2022 by whistleblower Paul Calvert who alleges families and coroners have been misled at inquests to cover up medical mistakes, but the full report has never been made public.

Paul Calvert. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) The trust has been asked on several occasions, the Echo understands, to release the document under Freedom of Information (FOI) law.

But NEAS refused to do so on the basis that it contained personal information including naming people involved.

The Information Commissioner has now said the trust must release the document to a solicitors firm who requested it, in turn making it fully public for the first time, under FOI rules.

The decision comes amid a period of heightened scrutiny for NEAS after an inquest last week concluded a County Durham dad died after ambulance failings and neglect. It is “highly likely” Aaron Morris, 31, would have survived if he received timely treatment and did not wait 55 minutes for an ambulance after a motorbike crash, a Coroner said last week.

Caroline Ott a solicitor at legal firm Leigh Day, who represents Peter Coates' daughter Kellie, said: “Our client has been seeking the unredacted version of the Interim Report by AuditOne in March 2020  for some time with little success to date.

"She therefore welcomes the Information Commissioner’s decision that the NEAS must disclose the report. In particular she welcomes the ICO’s observation that in circumstances where serious allegations have been levelled at the NEAS, legitimate scrutiny should be facilitated and that 'being open and transparent is a core task for any public authority'. Our client looks forward to receiving the report without further delay and hopes provision of the report marks the beginning of increased transparency from the NEAS.”

North East Ambulance Service (Image: North East Ambulance Service) Information about one patient, which has not previously been published in the press or a further report will be redacted, the Commissioner said.

NEAS will now have until December 8 to release the report or appeal the decision. A spokesperson for the ambulance service said: "We have received notification of the decision from the ICO and we have a period of one month to give it due consideration. We are still within that period and so we are unable to comment further at this time."

Ambulance bosses previously apologised to grieving families for failings. “It is important that the Trust formally and publicly reiterates that there have been failings and restates its wholehearted apologies to the families concerned,” a follow-up report by Dame Marianna Griffiths published last July said.

The Guardian revealed last year a paramedic implicated in the alleged cover-ups was involved in decisions to keep the report under wraps.

Paul Aitken-Fell is named in the report, seen by the Echo, as having amended information sent to the Coroner about the death of 17-year-old Quinn Beadle from Shildon, leaving out references to mistakes including a failure to clear her airways and the assertion that life support would ‘not have had a positive outcome’. He was then responsible for reviewing a request for the Audit One report to be published in May 2023, and decided it still should not be made public.

Quinn’s mum Tracey Beadle told the Echo the ICO’s ruling to have the report made public was a “step forward”.

Tracey Beadle. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) “I am just really relived that the report is finally coming out into the public domain”, she said.

“We want to know, as Quinn’s family, all the details of why what the paramedic did was covered up, and who covered it up.”

Tracey has previously led calls for a public inquiry into the trust.

Gavin Wood, the paramedic who attended Quinn, who was found hanged in a wood near her home, was later struck off after failing to give her adequate life support. A misconduct hearing was told he made no attempt to clear her airways, ventilate her lungs, use a defibrillator, or administer adrenaline or any other form of intravenous medication.

Siblings Dyllon and Quinn Beadle, who both tragically took their own lives within 10 months. The tragic death of Quinn, who herself wanted to be a paramedic, is one of about 90 cases highlighted by Paul Calvert, from Peterlee, where he claims families may not have learned the full truth.

Mr Calvert, who was sacked after blowing the whistle, said: “You could argue that yes it is the first time NEAS have been forced to publish but it is still a redacted version.

“The unredacted report has already been reported on in the media.

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A letter from NEAS, and seen by the Echo, when he was sacked said 'regretfully' there were 'irreconcilable differences' between him and the trust.

It comes after a coroner concluded Aaron Morris, 31, died after a crash in Esh Winning on July 1, 2022 when an ambulance should have arrived in 18 minutes, but instead took 55 to reach him.

Ambulance failings and neglect contributed to his death, the coroner said, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting now wants to meet Aaron’s widow Samantha to discuss the case.