Ambulance Service employee was ‘not prepared to deal’ with sick receptionist

Lisa Hubbard told colleagues she was “not prepared to deal” with the doctor’s surgery receptionist, the Health Professions Council heard.

The hearing was told that when Hubbard attended the scene in Fair Oak on June 4, 2007, she was rude and aggressive and told the patient: “I’ve seen you before. You are wasting our time.”

The shocked woman – described in the hearing as Patient A – ended up being taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Just over a month later, on July 12, 2007, the same woman had another fit while working at an accountancy firm in Bitterne, Southampton.

Hubbard attended with a male colleague from South Central Ambulance Service but refused to treat her because she had made an official complaint about the previous incident.

A witness said that Hubbard had quickly asked for the patient’s name and when informed it was Patient A she said: “Oh no, not her.”

‘Pseudo-fitter’ It was alleged that at the time Patient A was receiving oxygen from other attending medics, Hubbard said: “You can take that off her. She loves all that. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

It was also claimed Hubbard described Patient A to a colleague as a “pseudo-fitter”.

The hearing was told that following the complaint a subsequent investigation into the incident resulted in Hubbard being asked to carry out “reflective practice”.

Sophie Kemp, representing the Health Professions Council, said: “We say that Lisa Hubbard failed to act in the best interests of Patient A, she failed to treat her with respect and dignity and allowed her own views about her patient’s condition to colour her treatment.

“The fundamental duty of a paramedic is to treat all patients on the basis of clinical observations and not on assumptions. We say that Lisa Hubbard did the latter.”

Hubbard, who attended the hearing, admitted she breached patient confidentiality when her comments were overheard, but said it was |“unintentional”.

It is the second time the allegations have been heard. A previous hearing in November 2009 collapsed after questions were raised about legal assessor Christopher Smith being biased by Hubbard’s lawyer Simon Cavalier-Jones.

Mr Cavalier-Jones applied for yesterday’s hearing to be held in private but his application was turned down following arguments from Miss Kemp and the press.

Proceeding