Dad of road victim Rebecca Wedd condemns Great Western Ambulance Trust

THE father of a student who died on the way to her May ball says Great Western Ambulance Service might have contributed to her death.

Rebecca Wedd died in hospital after she was hit by a car in Cirencester and had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance.

Her father Peter is furious that more improvements have not been made 12 months after the collision.

On May 25 last year, the 23-year-old was walking along the A433 near Coates to the Royal Agricultural College, where she studied, when she was hit by a silver BMW.

She lay injured by the roadside for 42 minutes – 34 minutes longer than the target for life-threatening emergency calls – before an ambulance reached her.

A report released today by the Healthcare Commission follows a year-long investigation into the ambulance service, prompted by the incident.

It acknowledges a 'serious failure' on the part of the Trust to respond to the incident within a reasonable time.

It has made a series of recommendations for improvements to ensure such an incident cannot happen again.

But Mr Wedd says the report doesn't go far enough.

He said: "I'm bitter towards the ambulance Trust and this report confirms why I feel like I do. It shows they still haven't done things they should have done.

"No one has been able to tell me whether Rebecca died as a result of the collision or because of the delay in getting her to hospital.

"Forty-two minutes is totally unacceptable for an injury of that nature.

"I can never stop thinking what might have happened if they had got to her quickly. It might have made all the difference."

Mr Wedd, whose other daughter Caroline was also a student at the college, said he is considering taking further action.

The report recognised that the Trust has put in force a computer system so that the whereabouts of all vehicles can be seen in each of the control centres.

It is also providing paramedics with further training and is working to ensure there is adequate cover when staff are off sick.

But the Healthcare Commission says the Trust needs to make more improvements.

It has recommended it improves its system for investigating incidents and needs to make sure staff are clear about their roles at work.

The Trust should put in place a new control room structure as soon as possible to provide clarity for staff about line management roles and operational issues.

The Commission will re-visit the Trust in six months to check progress on the recommendations.

Nigel Ellis, the Commission's Head of Investigations, said: "The incident that triggered this intervention is a real tragedy. It follows that the Trust should continue to do everything possible to ensure it does not happen again."

Rebecca had just finished her final exams in International Equine and Agricultural Business Management. An internal investigation by the Trust highlighted several factors which contributed to failings.

They included another traffic collision on the night which tied up three ambulances, sickness of a crew member in Cirencester and a vehicle defect.

TIM Lynch, chief executive of the Great Western Ambulance Service, said: "We recognise there were serious failings in our service at the time of this incident. I'd like to personally apologise to the father of Rebecca Wedd and to express my profound regret for the loss of his daughter.

Dr Ossie Rawstorne, clinical director at Great Western Ambulance Service, said: "We welcome this report from the Healthcare Commission which concerns an incident involving the death of a young woman. Our thoughts are very much with her family.

"I wish to reassure the public that Great Western Ambulance Service is delivering better and faster patient care than ever. We still have challenges ahead but we have made significant improvements in the past 17 months.   

"The Commission uses an annual Category A performance figure published in June this year, which is not the latest. We are now performing better than ever before.

"We are regularly meeting the new Call Connect Category A target which means that we should attend life threatening incidents within 8 minutes, 75 per cent of the time.

"Since this incident happened, we have introduced a Trust-wide aided dispatch system which means that we're now able to see where each crew and vehicle is located at any time and dispatch the nearest  vehicle.

"We're answering calls faster than ever before - 98 per cent of calls are answered within three seconds - and we're creating a skilled workforce that's improving the quality of care we offer.

"We accept all five of the Commission's recommendations and will have implemented four of them completely by the end of next month. We've made significant progress on the remaining recommendation."