Recommendations - West Midlands Police, July 2023

The IOPC recommends that West Midlands Police (WMP) should review measures to be taken by control room staff in instances where emergency calls to third parties such as West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) are placed on hold for a significant amount of time.  These measures may include a second call being made to 999 by control room staff, or the request where suitable for officers at the scene to make an additional 999 call to WMAS to request an ambulance while WMP control room remains on hold.  The decision of who is required to make the additional call to 999 should be clearly communicated by the control room to the attending officer.

This follows an IOPC investigation where WMP received a report of a person on their hands and knees in a road and appearing to be in a distressed state.  Attending officers located the person on a nearby driveway and provided first aid and monitored the person’s condition whilst an ambulance was requested.  The police control room was unable to contact the ambulance service and was placed on hold.  The officers at the scene continued to provide care to the person, who began to experience seizures which prompted a 999 call to the ambulance service to be made by an attending officer.  The person was found to have stopped breathing and officers provided CPR until the arrival of paramedics who took over his care.  The person was taken to hospital by ambulance where he died.

Accepted:

The current processes in Contact is to make West Midlands Ambulance aware of any ‘New Incident’, by the Dispatcher utilises the Control Works Communication Tile which connects to their none 999 number. The use of this number is at the request of West Midlands Ambulance Service.

West Midlands Ambulance will state when 999 calls to them are queueing, calls to the none 999 number will take a lower priority and not answered until there are no 999 calls remaining.  None 999 calls are queued but in a separate queue to that of 999 calls. 

There is no written policy in relation to this.

The IOPC recommends that West Midlands Police (WMP) should review the first aid training of WMP officers, to consider whether a single day of training is sufficient to accommodate the necessary teaching for both personal safety and first aid, and whether the content of the training is adequate to meet the expectations of police officers when dealing with circumstances where first aid is required prior to medical professional attendance.

This follows an IOPC investigation where WMP received a report of a person on their hands and knees in a road and appearing to be in a distressed state.  Attending officers located the person on a nearby driveway and provided first aid and monitored the person’s condition whilst an ambulance was requested.  The police control room was unable to contact the ambulance service and was placed on hold.  The officers at the scene continued to provide care to the person, who began to experience seizures which prompted a 999 call to the ambulance service to be made by an attending officer.  The person was found to have stopped breathing and officers provided CPR until the arrival of paramedics who took over his care.  The person was taken to hospital by ambulance where he died.

Recommendation accepted:

West Midlands Police undertake current First Aid Training following national guidelines, this training along with wider Personal Safety Training is currently undergoing a review to ensure the training is fit for purpose and supports officers and staff in undertaking their front line duties. The review will examine the duration and content of current training delivery, other Forces are also being consulted within that work.

The IOPC recommends that West Midlands Police (WMP) should review the medical equipment available to officers and stored in police cars to ensure minimum standards of availability are maintained, including consideration of the availability of defibrillators.

This follows an IOPC investigation where WMP received a report of a person on their hands and knees in a road and appearing to be in a distressed state.  Attending officers located the person on a nearby driveway and provided first aid and monitored the person’s condition whilst an ambulance was requested.  The police control room was unable to contact the ambulance service and was placed on hold.  The officers at the scene continued to provide care to the person, who began to experience seizures which prompted a 999 call to the ambulance service to be made by an attending officer.  The person was found to have stopped breathing and officers provided CPR until the arrival of paramedics who took over his care.  The person was taken to hospital by ambulance where he died.

Recommendation accepted:
 

The following list details the standard first aid equipment held in WMP buildings and vehicles. The only vehicles that routinely carry a defib are Firearms and some Motorway vehicles.

Triangular bandages

Trauma dressing medium

Tufkut scissors

Emergency foil blanket

Nitrile gloves - small

Nitrile gloves - medium

Nitrile gloves - large pair

CPR Mask in hard case

Yellow clinical waste bag

Antiseptic alcohol-free wipes

Eye wash pods

Waterproof plasters (pack of 10)

Combat tourniquet C-A-T

Leaflet giving general guidance on first aid

These are in addition to the equipment carried by officers, i.e. CPR face shield and nitrile gloves.

The Force Clinical Governance Board, chaired by the Head of L&D, reviews any suggestions for changes in first aid equipment provision and make any decisions as to suitability for WMP.