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Seizure patients at risk because 999 crews can't give vital drug
Anna Davis7 Apr 2009
LIVES are at risk as ambulances without paramedics on board are sent to people suffering from seizures, a medical charity warned.
Epilepsy Action said ambulance crews made up solely of "emergency medical technicians" are attending.
However, only paramedics are qualified to administer the life-saving anti-fitting drug diazepam. Technicians who can perform CPR and defibrillation, cannot give it as it is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs regulations.
The charity will write to London Ambulance Service urging it to ensure paramedics are first on the scene whenever a person is having a seizure.
A spokeswoman for the charity said: "If a technician is unable to treat that person and there is a potential the person might die, it is not good enough."
The service admitted ambulances without paramedics are sent to some emergencies when no other vehicles are available. The first vehicle must arrive within eight minutes.
A paramedic will be sent as soon as one becomes free but there are no rules on how long this should take.
The charity spokeswoman said: "Rescue medication for status epilepticus can only be supplied and administered by a paramedic. Epilepsy Action therefore believes that paramedics should always be deployed first."
Status epilepticus is a life-threatening condition where the patient is in a prolonged seizure roughly more than 30 minutes. It is most common in epilepsy sufferers but can affect anyone.
Epilepsy Action is also campaigning to change rules that ban technicians from administering diazepam.
The charity spokeswoman added: "It is an either/or situation. We want a paramedic to get to the scene first, but given that is not always possible it makes sense for emergency medical technicians to give the drug as well."
Jonathan Fox, of the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, said: "If someone is having a seizure, the sooner you interrupt it the better their outcome. So the best possible scenario is to get a paramedic there who can prescribe diazepam."
A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said it had applied to the medicines watchdog to give technicians the right to supply the correct drugs.
He added: "We have recruited 300 student paramedics in the last year, and plan to recruit another 400 this year so that in four years' time we will have 700 more paramedics.
"We are also training our current emergency medical technicians up to paramedic level at a rate of over 100 a year."
Paul Connew, spokesman for the children's medical research charity Sparks, said: "We would hope every baby and child who needs emergency medical treatment would have the best available help at the earliest opportunity.
"The better equipped and better trained ambulance crews are, makes an important difference to the children's chances."
'I fear a repeat of Kayleigh's death'
TEENAGER Kayleigh Macilwraith-Christie, from Islington, died after suffering an epileptic fit for almost 50 minutes.
The 15-year-old's death in 2006 sparked a campaign to change the way epilepsy sufferers are treated. Her mother Jean Murphy, 49, launched a campaign to ensure a paramedic is on every ambulance. Today she said: "I feel if a paramedic had come this would not have happened."
After her 999 call, a technician in a fast-response car arrived within eight minutes, but could not give her the drugs. An ambulance arrived 24 minutes later but without a paramedic. A London Ambulance Service spokesman said it now "always looks to send a paramedic".
Reader views (1)
Unfortunately the situation of a double technician crew attending calls is still a regular occurance and often Paramedics on other ambulances and cars will have to listen out on the radio and then ask repeatedly for the control room to send them to these jobs. The current targets are for ambulances to reach life threatening calls in 8 minutes...not to save lives once they arrive.
- Anon, London, 10/04/2009 05:39
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