Dad expecting twins had 95% chance of survival but ambulance took too long
A dad who died only weeks after learning his wife was expecting twins had a 95 per cent chance of survival from the motorbike collision that killed him, an investigation found.
The death of Aaron Morris, 31, led to an internal investigation by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) which revealed there was a "series of errors and system failures,"
Aaron was involved in a collision in the village of Esh Winning, County Durham on July 1 last year and his wife Samantha said the results of the investigation felt "like the day he died all over again."
She said: "Getting the report felt like the day he died all over again. You go numb and it's like the world is frozen around you.
"The difference this time round was I had the twins and they were screaming as I was being told all these failings that killed my husband and their dad."
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A police officer and off-duty nurse grew increasingly concerned about Aaron's condition (Newcastle Chronicle)A waiting time of 49 minutes and 49 seconds meant that Aaron did not get the help he needed on time and it should have come in just 18, Chronicle Live reports.
At 12.27pm, the first call was made but 10 calls in the queue meant it took a total of 98 seconds to be answered.
Six calls to the service were made on behalf of Aaron and these included calls from a police officer and an off-duty nurse who were growing increasingly concerned about his deteriorating condition.
At 12.55pm, a police officer requested an ambulance "on the hurry up," but was told that 74 outstanding emergencies meant the call was still awaiting allocation.
An Air Ambulance was then requested, but the call handler referred to earlier information that the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) had spoken to the off-duty nurse and advised their services were not needed.
In the report, it was revealed that the clinical update from the scene and subsequent request for the air ambulance were not documented in the call notes, nor passed to the air ambulance service.
Samantha had to give directions to the hospital (Newcastle Chronicle)An air ambulance was available at the time if it was needed, the report found.
Samantha, 28, said: "That's one of the biggest things that gets me. I understand that there weren't many ambulances available, but knowing that an air ambulance was available and could have been on the scene if only they were aware that Aaron's condition was deteriorating.
"They could have saved his life if updates had been fed back to the air desk and that's one of the toughest things to take from the report."
An air ambulance could have been made available (Newcastle Chronicle)An ambulance from a third-party company eventually arrived at 1.21pm along with an Emergency Care Assistant (ECA).
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By this stage, an along Aaron had a weak pulse and abnormal breathing. He also was cold to the touch and had a temperature of 36C.
More horror then occurred for Samantha and Aaron when the ECA, who was "not familiar with the area," could not operate the satnav system.
It was Samantha who had to direct the ambulance to the University Hospital of North Durham. They were originally bound for the closest major trauma centre at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary but had to redirect when Aaron suffered cardiac arrest.
Samantha said the "horrific" events meant she was giving directions while she could hear her partner being given CPR.
Samantha gave birth to twins Aaron-Junior John Robson Morris (left) and Ambrose-Ayren Morris (right) three months premature (Newcastle Chronicle)She said: "It was absolutely horrific. I'm stuck in the front of an ambulance trying to direct it to the nearest hospital when all I can hear is Aaron being given CPR and chest compressions being given.
"All I could hear was Aaron's chest being jumped on while I'm trying to direct this driver and all I wanted to do was get in the back of the ambulance to be with Aaron. The last thing he said before he went into cardiac arrest was 'where's my wife at?'
"The paramedic said 'she's just in the front mate' and then he started saying 'Aaron, Aaron' and then he shouted 'trauma arrest, trauma arrest. Divert, divert'. He must have known he was going and wanted to know where I was and I just couldn't get to him until they slightly revived him at Durham.
Aaron didn't get to hospital until 2.14pm and he later died with Samantha at his side.
She added: "I was trapped in the front of this ambulance and he was dying in the back. It kills me thinking about it. It traumatises me and to this day I still think about it every day."
Samantha continued: "Our life was just starting when Aaron passed away and my life is so different now that he's gone. I've got these two babies that have never met their dad. My past, present and future was taken away when Aaron died."
'My past, present and future was taken away when Aaron died' (Newcastle Chronicle)The widowed mum said she is grateful to those who treated her husband that day and those who cared for her twins when they were born three months premature.
Aaron-Junior John Robson Morris and Ambrose-Ayren Morris were born in October.
Chief operating officer at North East Ambulance Service, Stephen Segasby, said: "Firstly, I would like to offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Aaron's loved ones. This was a tragic event.
"When concerns were raised with us about Aaron's treatment we reported these as a serious incident and began an internal investigation into what had happened. We have now shared the outcome of the serious incident review with Aaron's family.
The ambulance service apologised (Newcastle Chronicle)"There were a number of organisations involved in this case and we unreservedly apologise for not providing the response from our service that Aaron should have received. There are a number of actions arising from the review of this incident that we are committed to taking forward to improve the coordination of our response.
"We will of course now cooperate fully with the coroner to provide all the information required to make their independent judgement and for that reason it would not be appropriate for us to comment further on the detail of this case until that process is concluded."
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