Ambulance worker loses tribunal claim

Jun 21 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

AN AMBULANCE worker who claimed he was sacked because he was stressed has lost a tribunal claim against his bosses.

Arthur Biggs, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by the strains of being an ambulance worker, claimed unfair dismissal and disability discrimination after he was sacked by the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust in May 2007.

After the hearing finished, Mr Biggs, who is married and has a nine-year-old daughter, said he blamed the long-running issue of ambulance crew meal breaks for starting his illness.

He said that in August 2005 he was stationed at Belford, Northumberland, when a call came in to treat a woman who had collapsed 13 miles away in Spittal, despite a crew being at Berwick, just a couple of minutes from the scene.

“The other crew were on their lunch break so we were told to respond. We knew the woman wasn’t breathing as we could hear her husband being given instruction on CPR by someone over the phone.

“It took us 13 minutes to get there. If someone isn’t breathing you really need to be on the scene within eight minutes to have a chance of saving them,” he said.

Once Mr Biggs arrived he worked on the woman for 15 minutes but couldn’t save her. Half an hour after the initial call the paramedics based in Berwick turned up.

Mr Biggs said: “It is impossible to say what would have happened if someone had got to the scene sooner but this woman would have had a better chance.

“Her 12-year-old daughter saw everything and was in tears and I had to comfort her. The only thing I could think was that if someone had got to the scene sooner they may have been able to save her life. It left me feeling angry. My PTSD started to develop after that incident.”

He had been on long-term sick leave for almost year when he was dismissed, after working for the ambulance service for four and a half years.

The 58-year-old, of Ringway, Choppington, Northumberland, representing himself, told the hearing in Newcastle yesterday that his treatment by trust management in dealing with his case left him feeling “humiliated”.

But the trust denied any discrimination had taken place. Bernard Hodgson, for the trust, said that other options for employment were offered to Mr Biggs but he said he couldn’t do any of them.

He had already been off sick for nine months and had a note for another 10 months and the trust was left with no option but to end his contract.

In finding for the trust, Employment Judge John Hunter said: “The trust identified other jobs for you and were informed you could not do them. We find that the trust responded reasonably at all stages of the process.”

Afterwards, a spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service said: “We are pleased with the outcome of this case. The panel, having heard all the facts in this case, have come to their conclusions.”

Mr Biggs said he was disappointed but accepted the verdict.