Then it appears that the entire staff of Barnehurst Ambulance Station, the entire staff of Central Ops in Silvertown, and the LAS training school in Hammersmith are all suffering a misapprehension.
I think it rather odd and somewhat disturbing that so many staff would, between them, have no knowledge of their own services "Policy Statement of Duties to Patients". A document which states :-
Purpose of the document: to safeguard the interests of our staff and our patients and, by so doing, support and promote the goals of the London Ambulance Service
You can find a copy at
Perhaps they should be encouraged to read it as their professional obligation requires that all LAS staff have a duty to always work within LAS Trust policies and procedures.
Section 1.1 makes it clear what their duties are _while they are on duty_
"As employees of London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS) staff, whilst on duty, have a professional duty and obligation to maintain a high standard of practice and care in order to serve the best interests of patients and their relatives and carers."
S7 establishes they have no legal or contractual responsibility to react to incidents when they are off duty.
In case they remain confused refer them to the London Ambulance Service Disciplinary policy which they can find at :-
They will find nothing in that which creates an obligation for them to assist when off duty or which creates a disciplinary offence not to do so.
Contracts of employment are extremely limited in what they can make people do when off duty and outside their course of employment. They can address things that you can't do, such as actions which may harm your employer, but they generally can't impose duties upon you. Doing something off-duty may lead to loss of employment, not doing something when off-duty rarely if ever will.
There is no legal responsibility for a paramedic to intervene in an incident when off duty. Common law systems have generally taken the view that private citizens should not be subjected to compulsory altruism. In the eyes of the law, they have no more responsibility than any other member of the public to intervene in such a situation.
There is no mention of such an obligation to assist in the LAS disciplinary policy. There is no mention of such an obligation in any of the Health Professions Council standards.
If the LAS training school think differently perhaps they can provide a reference showing where the obligation they wrongly claim to exist actually does?
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