Rachel Claire Lemonofides, a paramedic with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), has been struck off the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register after a tribunal found her conduct towards a seriously ill patient was “belittling and degrading” and racially motivated.
Incident at patient's home
The tribunal heard that while attending a 999 call at the woman's home in January 2024, Lemonofides told the patient to “stop being a baby” and accused her of lying about being unable to walk. The patient, who was later found to have suffered a stroke and a life-threatening burst aorta, was “forced to crawl downstairs” after Lemonofides refused to believe her.
Lemonofides told the patient: “You are lying, stop what you are doing, stop being a baby, let's go downstairs”. She also said the patient was “wasting time” and “making a scene”, before giving her an ultimatum: “You have 60 seconds to get up or we are leaving”.
Serious condition ignored
The patient was later transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital for emergency surgery after doctors found a brain bleed and an abdominal aortic aneurysm. She had been in a coma for 10 days and was unable to speak until around March 2024, and said doctors had given her a 50 per cent chance of surviving the surgery.
The tribunal found Lemonofides failed to recognise the seriousness of the patient's condition, despite symptoms including chest pain, low blood pressure, numbness in her legs and a “not particularly normal” ECG. The panel said there was “enough physical evidence” to recognise the patient was seriously ill and required urgent hospital treatment.
Racially motivated conduct
The tribunal also found Lemonofides discriminated against the patient's ethnicity, with elements of her behaviour racially motivated. She repeatedly referred to “black magic” and described the patient as behaving as if she were “possessed”. The panel said these comments showed “hostility and a discriminatory attitude” and that racial bias may have been conscious or unconscious, but was “at the forefront” of her conduct.
Another paramedic present was so shocked by the behaviour that she reported it to her employer. Lemonofides later told the colleague: “If it had been filmed, you would watch it back and laugh at it.” The panel found this was an attempt to “minimise or make light” of what had happened.
Struck off
A complaint was submitted by the colleague on January 13, 2024, and a written complaint from a relative followed two days later. Lemonofides' operational duties were restricted on March 5, 2024, and she was dismissed on July 11, 2024. She admitted unprofessional conduct and failing to recognise the seriousness of the condition, but denied discrimination and the comment about watching the incident back. The tribunal found all six factual particulars proved.
The panel said the conduct amounted to serious professional misconduct with a “high risk of repetition”, and the discriminatory and racially motivated conduct was “so serious that they are incompatible with continued registration”. A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “The individual no longer works for the trust. All of our patients are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and there is no place within our organisation for colleagues who do not uphold those values.”
