NHS Hero nomination – John Babb, Stewart Walker, Chloe Smith and Jenny Flude

NHS Hero nomination – John Babb, Stewart Walker, Chloe Smith and Jenny Flude

When a patient suffered a heart attack in the car park at Stafford County Hospital in the early hours of the morning it was parking and security staff who stepped in to help him.

Car parking supervisor John Babb and Stewart Walker, a portering and security supervisor, were both on shift when John noticed on CCTV that a patient was slumped over the ticket machine on the car park.

Stuart said: “The patient had arrived on site in the early hours of the morning after experiencing chest pains and John noticed on the camera the patient needed some urgent help. When we got to the patient, it was really clear he was in a bad way and we needed to get help quickly.

“At this point the patient slid down the ticket machine and that’s when we realised he could be suffering from a heart attack.”

John and Stewart put the patient in a wheelchair and phoned for an ambulance but were told it was going to be a while before the ambulance crew could get to them. They made the decision to take the patient to resus, even though it was out of hours.

Staff nurse Chloe Smith and senior staff nurse Jenny Flude were in A&E when the patient was bought in and were first on the scene to help Stewart and John. Together they all worked on the patient, providing CPR until the crash team arrived and took over.

Once stable, the patient was taken by ambulance to Royal Stoke University Hospital for emergency surgery and went on to make a full recovery.

John, Stewart, Chloe and Jenny were recognised with a Trust CEO award and have now been nominated in the NHS Hero category of the Your Heroes Awards.

Stewart said: “We work very closely with the A&E staff. It is good to be involved as a team. It isn’t something I would want to repeat but having us all work together to save this patient’s life was amazing.”

John said: “Myself and Stewart worked together to make sure the patient had the best outcome. It was fantastic that we all worked together as a team.”

Jenny said: “Stewart and John were brilliant. The patient was in full cardiac arrest when they reached us. We all worked so well as a team and luckily the patient got the care they needed quickly. I can’t thank them enough for what they did.”

Chloe said: “They were both invaluable to us on this day. They helped us so much and carried on helping us right up until the crash team arrived. They were fantastic how they handled the situation which isn’t usually something they have to deal with.”

Tracy Bullock, the then UHNM chief executive, said: “This demonstrates the importance of each department working together to achieve the best outcome for our patients. It also shows the vital role that our security team play in having eyes on the hospital site.

“Had this member of the public not been seen late at night on one of our cameras his outcome following a cardiac arrest could have been very different. Thankfully everyone worked together as a team which resulted in a positive outcome for this patient. Well done to everyone.”