Ambulance service apologises to families
An ambulance service has apologised to families following a review into claims it covered up errors by paramedics and withheld evidence from coroners.
The families of a teenager and a 62-year-old man were not told paramedics' responses were being investigated by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS).
The deaths, in 2018 and 2019, were raised by a whistleblower last year.
Among the findings of the independent review carried out by Dame Marianne Griffiths, were inaccuracies in information provided to the coroner, employees who were "fearful of speaking up" and "poor behaviour by senior staff".
The study, commissioned by the former health secretary Sajid Javid in August, examined four of the five cases that were highlighted by the whistleblower, initially in The Sunday Times.
It found two bereaved families were left in the dark about investigations into the response of paramedics called to help their loved ones.
Source: BBC News, 12 July 2023