Witness says staff did not move quickly enough to help customer who needed CPR, reports Finn Logue

Sainsbury's in Winchmore Hill (credit Google) — Sainsbury’s in Winchmore Hill (credit Google)

Customers looked on in “disbelief” after a woman collapsed and was given no instant support from staff in Winchmore Hill Sainsbury’s.

Staff and shoppers were made aware of an urgent incident after a woman collapsed and was left “gagging for air”. It fell on members of the public to deliver CPR and defibrillator shocks to the woman, as staff “carried on serving”.

Maria Brezitski, who is a nurse-in-training, was doing her food shopping with her husband when she had to give urgent medical assistance to the woman, whilst “nobody” from the staff tried to help.

Speaking to the Dispatch, she said: “I went over and found the woman collapsed on the floor, she was purple and gagging for breath, someone else had said she was fitting.

“I realised that we needed to start CPR, and at some point during the compressions I realised that the staff had just carried on serving and nobody was trying to help.

“I shouted out for some equipment, to ask for a defibrillator. A bit later, the duty manager brought the defibrillator, and then paramedics arrived and took over.”

The store manager later confirmed to Maria that the woman had survived but was in urgent care in hospital, her breathing assisted by a ventilator.

Maria added: “It’s questionable whether the outcome would have been better if she’d received help straight away.”

She said that members of the public looked on in shock, in disbelief at what they saw in front of them: “At least one person was crying and people were saying ‘how can this happen’ because staff were just continuing to serve customers like nothing was happening, it was in clear open view.”

In response a Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We are grateful to the emergency services for attending an incident at our Winchmore Hill store last Saturday. We also appreciate the support from medically trained customers who assisted our store team before the emergency services arrived.”

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