ALLEGATIONS that North East Ambulance Service covered up evidence about deaths linked to mistakes made by paramedics will be investigated “more thoroughly” by the Government after the issue was raised in the House of Commons this afternoon.

Health minister Maria Caulfield told MPs she was “horrified” to read the claims about the region’s emergency service in The Sunday Times at the weekend.

It was reported that concerns were raised about more than 90 cases, with the paper saying whistle-blowers believed NEAS had prevented relatives from knowing the full details about how their loved ones died in 2018 and 2019.

Ms Caulfield pledged to meet the families affected, the ambulance trust and the coroner, and said she wanted to hear from the whistleblowers.

Responding to an urgent question from Labour, the minister told the Commons: “My thoughts are first and foremost with the families affected by the tragic events described.

“I cannot imagine the distress they’re going through and it’s hard enough to lose a loved one suddenly.

“But to have fears that mistakes were made that could have made a difference and, more than that, the facts of what happened were not revealed in every case, goes further.

“They have my unreserved sympathy and support.”

Ms Caulfield said non-disclosure agreements have “no place in the NHS”, adding: “Reputation management is never more important than patient safety.

“Given the seriousness of the claims reported over the weekend we will, of course, be investigating more thoroughly, and will not hesitate to take any action necessary and appropriate to protect patients.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting asked: “Why is taxpayers’ money still being offered to buy the silence of staff when non-disclosure agreements were supposedly banned in 2014? And what role did under-resourcing and under-staffing play in this scandal?”

He added: “Record ambulance waits exist in every part of the country, with heart attack and stroke victims waiting longer than an hour for an ambulance.

“As for the North East Ambulance Service, they are advising the public to phone a friend or call a cab rather than wait, while presiding over gross negligence, cover-ups and taxpayer-funded gagging orders on staff.

“This is the record on their watch, it is a national disgrace. What is the Government doing about it?”

Ms Caulfield said the Government takes patient safety “extremely seriously”, adding in reply to Labour: “I am very happy to meet with all the families affected by this, to hear about their concerns and the actions that they want to see taken.”

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The minister said she would be meeting the NEAS, and added: “I also want to meet with the coroner, and we also want to hear from the whistle-blowers.

“I am very happy to meet with any member of staff who wants to raise concerns with me so we can get to the bottom of exactly what has happened.”

Conservative MP North West Durham Richard Holden said bereaved families have a right to know and urged the health minister ‘act rapidly’.

He said: “It’s also crucial to know so we can get to the bottom of this and prevent it from ever happening again.”

Labour’s Ian Lavery, who represents Wansbeck said North East Ambulance Service has been ‘dysfunctional for years now’.

Julie Elliott, Labour MP for Sunderland Central said: “NEAS has been making mistakes for decades and nothing seems to be done about it.

“The minister needs to get a grip of this for the people of the population for the North East.”

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