An independent inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess has revealed that ambulance crews were carrying medication which could have saved her life. Ms Sturgess was inadvertently exposed to the deadly nerve agent Novichok in Amesbury in June 2018. Medicine DuoDote, which is an antidote to nerve agent poisoning, had been introduced on all emergency vehicles the year prior to her death. However, paramedics initially misdiagnosed Ms Sturgess with opiate-poisoning due to an overlap of symptoms, including respiratory issues and fading consciousness.
The inquiry heard evidence from Wayne Darch, who was head of emergency operations at the South Western Ambulance Service in 2018. He told the inquiry “more could have been done” to train staff on “misdiagnosis awareness”. Mr Darch said his ambulance crews often attended opiate-related overdoses and had confused the overlapping symptoms with nerve agent poisoning. This misdiagnosis meant the DuoDote treatment was not administered, which could have prevented Ms Sturgess’ death, the inquiry heard.
Just four months prior to her death, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal had been poisoned with the same nerve agent, roughly eight miles away in Salisbury. The pair had gone for lunch at a pub before they were both found collapsed “in a serious condition” on a shopping centre bench. A report at the time stated ambulance staff had similarly misdiagnosed the pair, and the actual cause of their illness was not revealed until “15 hours later”. Fortunately, both made a full recovery and are currently living under protection.
Michael Mansfield KC, representing the family of Dawn Sturgess, raised the question of what provisions had been made to protect the public following this initial attack in March. Local emergency workers appear not to have been warned to look out for the fact that symptoms between drug overdoses and nerve agent poisonings can be easily confused – meaning it was not on their immediate radar when Ms Sturgess fell ill.
The inquiry heard from Dep Ch Con Paul Mills, the senior Wiltshire Police officer in charge of the Novichok response. He explained that it was his understanding at the time that this was an isolated incident and that there was no more information intelligence which indicated there was a wider potential threat for a further attack. “In hindsight, I think we should have put some advice and guidance out to staff, reaffirming their training and the types of symptoms that may present in a secondary incident,” he added
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