Ambulance crew spent too long trying to revive tot: report

An internal inquiry by St John Ambulance into the death of a Marton toddler earlier this year has shown that the time personnel spent at the scene trying to revive the little girl was "excessive" the report says.

Cherishsiliala Tahuri-Wright, known as Cherish, suffered severe head injuries on February 17 at a house in Marton.

A woman has been charged with her murder and a date for trial will be set next month.

St John Medical Director Dr Tony Smith says that personnel involved at the scene had been so intent on their own roles in caring for the little girl that nobody had taken an overall view.

"While the individual components of clinical care were of a good standard, the broader clinical picture and the need for rapid transport were lost … all the time spent at the scene trying to stabilise Cherish was excessive."

Dr Smith said the lessons learned from the case were being applied to improve responses in the future to other cases.

When St John staff had arrived that day they had found Cherish deeply unconscious with very poor breathing.

"A decision was made by the doctor and the ambulance crew to call for specialized help to come to the scene and insert a breathing tube into Cherish's lungs to 'take over' and control her breathing," Dr Smith says.

But instead of waiting for help, it would have been much faster to have transported Cherish by road ambulance to Palmerston North hospital ,40 minutes away, and have the breathing tube inserted there, he says.

Instead, the delay of getting specialised help from an advanced paramedic, who would insert a breathing tube, resulted in an overall hold-up of two-and-a-half hours in getting Cherish to hospital.

However, the emergency medicine specialists' review found the transport delay had not contributed to her death.

 But both agreed that the time spent at the scene trying stabilise her was too long even though in this particular case it had not contributed to the little girl's death.

 Dr Smith says a number of lessons had been learned.

"All personnel involved in the case have been given feedback on the necessary lessons learned in this case."