A PARAMEDIC has been suspended for a year after she failed to tell hospital staff about the deteriorating condition of a woman who later died of sepsis.

Kielye Mitchell, who works as a paramedic based at Colchester Ambulance Station, was hauled in front of a Health and Care Professional Tribunal Service Panel because of her actions.

She attended a woman’s home – which the Gazette understands is in Wivenhoe - after her husband had called 111 to report she was unwell.

Despite it being part of her symptoms in the handover message, Ms Mitchell failed to note the 60-year-old patient’s rash.

She also walked the patient to the door even though she had low blood pressure and hypotension and chose not to use the blue lights as they travelled to Colchester Hospital who were not pre-warned of their arrival.

Ms Mitchell then spoke to doctors and said the patient was stable. However, the panel decided her own evidence, monitoring reports and evidence from other witnesses, showed she was, in fact, deteriorating.

They also found she failed to provide a differential diagnosis.

Ms Mitchell also failed to record the patient’s vital signs between 6.10pm and handover to hospital staff at 8.30pm. This should have been done every 15 minutes.

She then didn’t report the woman’s worsening health saying her health was unchanged on patient clinical records and the severity of the situation was not discussed with hospital staff.

The woman died hours later of sepsis.

The panel was concerned at Ms Mitchell’s suggestion she did not do full observations because she thought someone from the Rapid Assessment Team would be arriving soon.

A report said the paramedic had also missed signs of cyanosis – when the skin goes blue because of circulatory issues.

“The registrant’s conduct, in failing to treat the patient adequately, combined with not alerting the hospital to her true condition, resulted in her being denied timely care,” it said.

“Consequently this had an adverse effect. When the patient finally entered the hospital, she was rapidly placed in the intensive treatment unit.

“The panel considered the above matters represented serious breaches of professional standards, falling far below the behaviour expected of a registered paramedic and amounted to misconduct.”

Concerns were also raised after Ms Mitchell said she did not note down observations because there was not enough room on the recording document.

The panel also said she did not show remorse in an initial hearing in February but accepted she had made reflections before a later hearing was held and had apologised to the woman’s family.

Ms Mitchell worked for 18 months after the incident in March 2016 without any issues, had a previously unblemished 16 years of service and completed courses since the incident to help with future incidents.

They decided she should not be struck off but imposed a year-long ban which will be reviewed before she can return to work.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: "We would like to express condolences to the family of the patient.

"This incident was addressed through the Trust’s policy for Variations in Clinical Practice and Competency, and we will now give careful consideration to the decision of the Tribunal and its comments."