TWO ambulance volunteers – who are often first at the scene of urgent calls – have resigned as they raise questions about their liability to be prosecuted following the conviction of two paramedics over the death of a patient.
The volunteers, formerly members of Jersey’s 35-strong pool of community first responders (CFRs) – Islanders who attend to emergencies before paramedics arrive – have resigned since the Royal Court trial of Tom Le Sauteur (36) and John Sutherland (61), the JEP can reveal.
And more are considering leaving, this newspaper has been told.
Mr Le Sauteur and Mr Sutherland were found guilty of failing to provide reasonable care to 39-year-old Frazer Irvine, who died in March 2022 after he called 999 following a suspected overdose.
The two paramedics, who received two-year conditional discharges, have vowed to appeal against their convictions.
In a resignation email obtained by the JEP, Carole Stockhill, a former CFR, said: “I am not willing to risk a lawsuit against me and a two-year jail sentence. Now a precedent has been set, the risk has heightened.”
Justice and Home Affairs confirmed yesterday that two CFRs in total had resigned “as a result of the court case”.
The statement added: “We are continuing to engage, train and support the CFR group, who are a valuable addition to the States of Jersey Ambulance Service team and play an important role for Islanders who experience a cardiac arrest.”
The department could not comment at this time on whether volunteers are covered by the same liability insurance as full-time members of ambulance staff.
The CFR scheme was first piloted in the UK and the NHS now uses 11,000 trained volunteers to attend urgent calls such as heart attacks, strokes and seizures. It was introduced in Jersey in 2022 amid a staffing crisis at the Ambulance Service and a deficit of trained paramedics.
Ms Stockhill’s resignation came in the wake of an email to all CFRs that followed concerns from volunteers about their liability. In a reply to all staff, management said that it could not guarantee that volunteers would not be held liable in the event of a “negative outcome”.
Ms Stockhill told the JEP that while she was not aware of other volunteers standing down, “a lot were considering it”.
“I think they are waiting to see what happens,” she said. Ms Stockhill also said that her resignation went unacknowledged by the Ambulance Service.
“There has been radio silence, she said. “Just an automatic notification that I had been removed from GoodSam,” referring to the app that is used to contact the volunteers.
An Ambulance Service employee told the JEP that fears among the cohort of volunteers about facing trial and conviction were acute. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because – as this newspaper revealed this week – ambulance staff have previously been threatened with disciplinary action for speaking to the media.
“CFRs have been extremely concerned since the outcome of the trial about their liability – and if this could happen to them,” the source said.
He said that staff feared that their liability was “a grey area”, as they are volunteers and not governed under the same clinical-practice regulations or guidelines.
Unite, the union that represents ambulance workers, said it was aware of the concerns.
“The health and safety law used to prosecute [Sutherland and Le Sauteur] applies to everyone in the workplace – including you and I,” said James Turner, regional officer at Unite Jersey.
“The employer will never say it cannot happen again, as it was not the employer that took the case to court, it was the HSI, via the Attorney General, so the law remains unchanged, though currently under review by the Social Security Minister.
“That law is normally used by employers to correct unsafe actions in the workplace of its employees, via training, disciplinary or even dismissal.
“The fact remains that Unite – as everyone else, it seems – has concerns since the case. We are more than aware that people are now nervous and deciding to potentially change vocations. However, the law is present wherever someone works.
“Unite has raised how this case was ever deemed to be in the public interest and await answers, given it is normally employers who are prosecuted under said law, having the ability to pay fines and correct their actions as the employer, or via vicarious liability if an employee is at fault when working for them.”
The CFR scheme was introduced in Jersey in July 2022 and is run via an app, GoodSam, which allows approved volunteers to respond to emergencies before ambulance staff arrive.
In a statement published at the time, senior paramedic Jason Hamon said: “The scheme pays particular attention to the most serious calls, where patients are experiencing chest pains and may be having a heart attack. The first few moments are vital in these circumstances and the purpose of CFRs is to ensure help gets to the most needy, as quickly as possible.”
