A CHASE Farm paramedic has been banned from the profession after ignoring a 999 call about a 90 year old woman who then died.

Patrick Rodgers, of Hertfordshire, wasted crucial minutes sitting in a depot at Chase Farm Hospital instead of trying to save an elderly woman who had collapsed behind a locked door. She died before he arrived.

He then tried to cover himself by claiming his ambulance had failed to start and lied to staff at the emergency operating centre, saying he was on his way when he had in fact turned off the ignition.

Rodgers, who was a paramedic for 20 years, was called at 9.21pm on March 9 last year but did not get to Swan Way, a distance of three miles away, for 26 minutes, the Health Professions Council heard last week.

Radio operators tried and failed to contact him on seven occasions and when contact was finally made, Rodgers told the operators he wanted to be told police were on their way as “there was not much point sitting around for hours waiting for them to arrive”.

Sophie Kemp, for the HPC, said: “From the records, it’s clear Mr Rodgers accepted the call because he pressed the amber button to say he had received the call and was attending. The button was pressed at 9.22pm, but records show the ignition of the ambulance was switched off at 9.25pm.”

Colleague Victoria Stewart, an emergency technician, was on duty with Rodgers and said Rodgers told her they had been given permission to wait at the ambulance station, which was a lie.

Rodgers, who resigned before the hearing began, neither admitted or denied the charges that he failed to respond to an emergency call; withheld treatment to a patient; misled a radio operator into believing he was on his way; and told Ms Stewart they could wait at the station.

Rodgers was struck off on Friday for exposing the public to “serious risk of harm”.

Christine Mills, chair of the HPC hearing, said his conduct undermined public confidence and brought the paramedic profession into disrepute.

She told the hearing: “The panel considered whether to make a suspension order. However, it considered that the paramedic’s misconduct was so serious he should not be allowed to continue in practice at all.

"Accordingly, the panel has decided that a striking off order is the appropriate and proportionate order to make in this case.”