Deaths probe linked to altered patient records
BBCThe arrest of two ambulance workers over the deaths of six adults is linked to allegations some patients were not taken to hospital when they should have been and had their care records altered, the BBC can reveal.
A Wiltshire Police investigation, launched in 2023, is believed to be connected to an internal audit by South West Ambulance Service NHS Trust [SWAST] of an electronic patient care record system [ePCR].
The BBC understands vital readings were allegedly changed to make a patient appear less ill at the end of a shift so hospital transport - and potentially a long wait at the hospital - was avoided.
SWAST and Wiltshire Police have declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing.
Last year a man in his 30s, from West Wiltshire, was arrested on suspicion of six counts of gross negligence manslaughter and four counts of ill-treatment or willful neglect by a care worker.
An Emergency Care Assistant [ECA], a woman in her 50s, was also arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in March. Both have been released on bail.
One source, who the BBC is not naming, said: "One of the patients who died at home... had low oxygen saturation... a criteria that demanded hospital conveyance.
"The observations they changed manually, increased the saturation level to a rate that justified being managed at home."
The BBC understands the arrested paramedic was sacked, while the ECA, who is suspected of assisting the paramedic in changing the ePCR, remains suspended.
NHSA new ePCR system was launched by the ambulance service in 2016 and described it as "an electronic solution designed by paramedics for paramedics".
Nineteen emergency vehicles were fitted with the device.
Under the system paramedics using a mobile electronic pad can input vital data such as blood pressure or a heart monitor reading. This is communicated to a unit at the hospital, streamlining the process of recording patient data during emergency responses.
Training for crews emphasises that patients seen at the end of a 12-hour shift should be treated in exactly the same manner as those at the beginning.
But several sources within the emergency services have told the BBC that when an audit of the system was introduced in 2022, it flagged up discrepancies between the readings sent using bluetooth by the West Wiltshire paramedics and subsequent manual overrides they made.
The sources told the BBC that it is common practice to make manual changes to readings - such as blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation levels (SATS) - if paramedics believe an original reading was incorrect.
Incorrect readings can also happen if, for instance, a patient is wearing nail varnish as that can affect the SATS reading. Temperature readings can also be wrong if patient's extremities are cold.
However, sources say that the audit identified a number of occasions where manual changes were later made that were not legitimate.
'Not compliant'
A Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that, since January 2025 a total of 12,453 audits were completed, of which 719 were non-compliant - the equivalent of one in 17.
Non-compliance can be for a variety of reasons, for example where paramedics failed to explain their clinical decisions.
As part of its investigation the BBC has also been told that two other SWAST paramedics have been suspended after another failed ePCR audit, not related to the police investigation.
SWAST has declined to confirm the reason for these two suspensions.
If you know someone who may have been affected by this issue please contact matthew.hill@bbc.co.uk
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