Tracey Beadle claims sacking whistle-blower Paul Calvert is unfair

Tracey Beadle, who lost 17-year-old Quinn to suicide, said Paul Calvert should be commended for raising awareness of concerns he has of paramedics withholding information where patients have died.

The coroners’ officer has been told his employment with North East Ambulance Service is being terminated, 17 months after he became unable to work on medical grounds which, he claims, is the result of bullying and harassment after speaking out.

Read more: Ambulance whistleblower sacked days before Christmas 

Paul Calvert (Image: Northern Echo)

The death of Quinn Beadle is one of around 90 cases Mr Calvert was aware of over the past three years in which the organisation has not been honest with families about the death of their loved ones at inquests.

Ms Beadle, from Shildon, said: “Paul has put everything on the line for us and for the other families.

“He deserves recognition for that and not to be sacked by his employers. What NEAS has done to him is abhorrent. It is disgraceful and I could not believe it when I heard.

“He should be celebrated for speaking out and doing the right thing. He should be getting an award.”

Quinn died on the evening of December 9, 2018, after she was found hanged near her home in Shildon.

Quinn Beadle. Picture: FAMILY HANDOUT

After concerns were raised, Tracey learned crucial information withheld by the paramedic who treated her, including a positive reading from a heart monitor.

A second inquest in October 2020 heard a paramedic told police officers she was dead and that CPR should be stopped.

North East Ambulance Service was found to have changed a key witness statement given to the coroner at her first inquest in April 2019.

It omitted references to mistakes the paramedic had made, which include failing to clear her airways, and adding claims that life support would ‘not have had a positive outcome’.

The tragedy was compounded ten months later when her 21-year-old son Dyllon, Tracey’s only other child, took his life while at university in Manchester, saying he was ‘haunted’ by what happened to his sister and the way the authorities had handled her death.

Read more: North East ambulance whistleblower offered £41k to stay silent

Dyllon and Quinn were very close. Picture: FAMILY HANDOUT

Mr Calvert, a former police officer who lives in Peterlee, has said he refused to accept a £41,000 non-disclosure agreement to stay silent about his concerns.

Tracey said: “We are in awe of Paul. We knew something had gone wrong in Quinn’s case but if it was not for Paul we would not have known the severity and the other cases that have come to light.

“There are other families who were totally unaware that something had gone wrong in the loved ones’ care.

“If it had not been for Paul no-one would have known. He is an amazing person, with great strength of character and he is a very moral person.

“He refused to take the money because he knew people have died and there are cover ups at NEAS.

“It has had a really bad effect on his mental health and a detrimental effect on him financially. He is going to struggle to employment in the future and all because he did the right thing, the thing that you are told to do.”

Tracey has echoed Mr Calvert’s calls for a public inquiry and shares his fear that an NHS England review to be published next month will be ‘a whitewash’.

Read next:

• Whistleblower 'bullied' over cover-up claims about North East Ambulance
• North East Ambulance Service review disappoints families
• Leaked emails 'show ambulance inquiry body is unfit' to review cover-up scandal

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Tracey Beadle with her husband David. Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

NEAS has not accepted liability for Quinn’s death, but Tracey said the service had donated £3,000 to the Quinn’s Retreat charity, which she set up with her husband, David, to support other people bereaved after suicide.

Ms Beadle, who won an Unsung Hero award at the County Durham Together Awards, which was hosted by The Northern Echo in association with Durham County Council, said: “NEAS should have at least waited until this report had come out. It is due to be released in January. “They could have at least left it over Christmas before making a decision.

“To sack someone for being a whistle-blower, which is basically what they have done, is just beyond contempt.

"To do it this close to Christmas is awful.”

• Meanwhile, Mr Calvert has set up a Crowdfunder appeal with a target of £10,000 to help fund his legal costs "to expose the truth and corruption in the NHS by senior managers".