The family of a Powys man who died after suffering a heart attack on a Cardiff street say he was let down be "gross failures" by his emergency care.

In an inquest hearing at Pontypridd Coroner's Court this morning (October 11), the legal team representing the family of Gordon Smith accused paramedics who treated him on the day he died of a “failure of leadership”.

Mr Smith, from Machynlleth, was treated by Welsh Ambulance staff after suffering a heart attack on March 7, 2019, while he was working for the Welsh government in Cardiff.

The legal team for Mr Smith’s family argued to Assistant Coroner Gaynor Kynaston that paramedics who attended had overseen “a catalogue of errors”.

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Testimony from earlier in the hearing found that after crews arrived, the monitor for when defibrillator shocks are needed and charges the pads (known as an AED) was not switched on for nearly 10 minutes, although a pulse was recorded for Mr Smith in that time.

When switched on the AED immediately charged the defibrillator pads and directed for Mr Smith to be shocked.

READ MORE: Powys man who died in Cardiff left without defibrillator shock for six minutes

However, records found there were two subsequent calls for shocks that were not administered for over five minutes until a team from the Wales Air Ambulance arrived.

The hearing also heard that paramedics at the scene used a ventilator system that was older and not recommended for use by the Welsh Ambulance Service, despite having been trained in the new system.

Crews who later arrived on the scene also found that the breathing tube was “improperly placed” and therefore was not ventilating Mr Smith properly.

What happens at an inquest and what can the press report?

Reporting on inquests is one of the most difficult jobs faced by any journalist, but there are important reasons why local newspapers attend coroner’s court hearings and report on proceedings.

Here we will try and answer some of your questions about what will happen, what can be reported and why.

Consultant Paramedic and Regional Clinical Lead for the Welsh Ambulance Service, Mike Jenkins confirmed that despite this being a “nationally recordable” incident - meaning it should be referred to more senior figures immediately - he was unaware of it for 10 months until Mr Smith’s family made a freedom of information request.

Mr Jenkins said when questioned “staff were non-committal in their response”.

He confirmed there had been “no repercussions from an employment perspective”, adding that disciplinary proceedings would "discourage people from self-reporting when an incident takes place".

“I would have assumed they would have thought that EMRTS (Wales Air Ambulance) would have reported it to us," he added.

Mr Jenkins said improvements have been made in recent years to monitor intubation but that such incidents are still “self-reported” so that staff feel they can come forward and learn how to improve.

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The team representing Mr Smith’s family are asking Ms Kynaston to consider issues of medical neglect as well as potentially making a prevention of future deaths report.

This would mean she writes to the ambulance service ordering changes to practices intended to prevent future death.

Dr Navroz Masani, a consultant cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales, told the hearing that using data looking at the broad population, Mr Smith may have had a 40 per cent chance of survival even with optimum care.

The trust's legal team cited his testimony, saying that the low chances of Mr Smith's survival mean that no report is required.

They added that “this was not a system that was not functioning” citing the training being provided for staff at the time.

A verdict is expected to be made by Ms Kynaston next month.