Oliver Shelley

1.  The lack of a sepsis algorithm pathway to assist the emergency medical advisor (EMA) during 111/999 calls 

At 14:51 hours on 22nd July 2024, Oliver’s parents called 999 indicating their concern that Oliver was suffering from meningitis as he was suffering from a non-blanching rash, vomiting and reduced level of consciousness. The EMA began a triage using NHS Pathways algorithm but as they were unable to prioritise any of the listed symptoms, they requested operational support at 14:57 hours, to ask if there was a meningitis pathway within the system. This call was concluded at 15:51 with the EMA indicating to Oliver’s parents that a call back was scheduled within 20 minutes.  

A call back was not undertaken until 1 hr and 41minutes later and in the absence of a response a further unsuccessful call was made 2 hrs and 18 minutes later before Secamb closed the referral. In the meantime, Oliver’s parents made the decision to convey Oliver to hospital arriving there at or around 15:55 hours. On attendance it was recognised that Oliver was gravely unwell and despite maximal supportive management sadly died from overwhelming meningococcal septicaemia 7.5 hours after his arrival.  In their investigation, Secamb acknowledged that the EMA’s management of the 999 call was not compliant and have taken the opportunity to offer ongoing training. However, it was also recognised EMA’s found it challenging to triage individuals when multiple signs and symptoms were present in relation to a possible sepsis diagnosis and that having a dedicated sepsis algorithm would assist them in being able to provide an appropriate response to callers and to ensure appropriate management. This has important implications for prioritising ambulance disposition, which may also include the ability of a paramedic to attend at the earliest opportunity to give antibiotics. 

2.  Emergency Medical Advisors Other than some in-house training, Emergency Medical Advisors (EMA’s), generally have no qualifications in medicine or nursing. As such, the use of this title to describe their role raises a real concern they are misleading the public who use the 111/999 service. Oliver’s parents gave an extreme clear assessment of Oliver’s condition and also informed the EMA that they were concerned it was meningitis. However, this was not recognised by the EMA reaffirming their limited abilities. This reinforces the need to provide further assistance to all EMA’s who use NHS pathways by providing an appropriate ‘sepsis’ algorithm to assist in their role.