Two ambulance workers have been arrested over the deaths of six adults, police have said.<\/p>\n
The investigation was launched in 2023 and last year a man in his 30s, from West Wiltshire, was arrested on suspicion of six counts of gross negligence manslaughter and four counts of ill-treatment or wilful neglect by a care worker.<\/p>\n
A 59-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in March this year. Police have only released details of the investigation and arrests now.<\/p>\n
The two South Western Ambulance Service workers have been released on bail, Wiltshire Police said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We can confirm a major investigation is under way relating to several adult deaths in and around Wiltshire,\u00a0\u00bb said Det Ch Insp Phil Walker from the force’s major crime team.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Our focus is on supporting the families and loved ones of those who have died,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
Det Ch Insp Walker said the investigation has been ongoing since an initial report in 2023. The man in his 30s was arrested in June 2024.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Detailed inquiries have been undertaken since to ascertain the facts,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the ambulance service said it started an internal investigation as soon as it became aware of concerns and had since been \u00ab\u00a0working closely\u00a0\u00bb with police.<\/p>\n
The service said the two workers were \u00ab\u00a0immediately relieved of all duties, including the treatment of patients,\u00a0\u00bb adding one of the individuals is no longer employed by the trust.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We would like to reassure people that this is an isolated situation and there is no ongoing risk to patients. Please continue to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency,\u00a0\u00bb the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the offence of gross negligence manslaughter requires the breach of an existing duty of care, which gives rise to a serious and obvious risk of death.<\/p>\n
South Western Ambulance Service was most recently inspected by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission in 2022 and was rated as \u00ab\u00a0good\u00a0\u00bb, having made improvements since previous inspections.<\/p>\n
The trust was rated as \u00ab\u00a0outstanding\u00a0\u00bb for care and \u00ab\u00a0good\u00a0\u00bb for its response times, effectiveness and leadership.<\/p>\n
Its emergency and urgent care services was rated as requiring improvement.<\/p>\n
Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two ambulance workers have been arrested over the deaths of six adults, police have said. The investigation was launched in 2023 and last year a man in his 30s, from West Wiltshire, was arrested on suspicion of six counts of gross negligence manslaughter and four counts of ill-treatment or wilful neglect by a care worker. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}