Emergency protocols were “clunky” and “straight-jacketing” on the night a mum drowned after becoming stuck in the rocks on Lowestoft seafront.
Saffron Cole-Nottage, 32, died on February 2, having slipped and fallen while walking her dog along the prom at Lowestoft. She fell headfirst, and despite members of the public trying desperately to pull her free, Ms Cole-Nottage drowned.
An inquest into her death has been ongoing at Suffolk Coroners’ Court, with the transcript of the call a member of public made to the East of England Ambulance Service read out. The emergency call was made at 7.52pm.
The caller told call handler Daniel Joy: “This is actually really serious,” and “maybe she’s going to drown soon”.
Present in court was Mr Joy’s team leader, Christopher Strutt. It was put to him that Mr Joy had told the caller that Ms Cole-Nottage should not move and others should wait until the ambulance arrived, rather than attempting to rescue her.
Mr Strutt admitted this was “not something I would have done had it been my call” and explained that the advice should come with the caveat “unless it is safe to do so”.
He explained that this question was generated from the computer system’s ‘entrapment’ protocol, which was selected at 7.56pm.
It became apparent the call should have followed ‘drowning’ protocol. Mr Joy then began asking questions following the drowning protocol at 7.59pm.
Darren Stewart OBE, the presiding coroner, suggested that having to follow protocols so closely had resulted in “muddled” rescue advice, and described Mr Joy as being “straightjacketed” by the script.
Mr Strutt said that while handlers were obligated to follow these scripts, “A more experienced handler would not have asked obvious questions and moved on at a quicker pace”.
In answering questions from the family’s barrister, Saba Naqshbandi KC, he acknowledged that “with the benefit of hindsight” the fire service should have been notified far earlier into the call.
Ms Naqshbandi pushed back. “There’s no hindsight required,” she said.
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