PARAMEDICS were called to rescue a choking toddler at a holiday resort only to find staff “standing around doing nothing” when they arrived, a pre-inquest review heard.

James Manning, two, was with his family at the Butlins holiday resort in Bognor when he began choking on a bit of sausage.

Ambulance staff were delayed reaching him due to bollards and gates blocking their way and staff failing to find keys to open them.

James was eventually taken to St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester but had to be transferred to Southampton General Hospital where he died on June 20 last year.

His mother Nathalie Reeves and grandmother Angela attended the hearing with other family members and friends at Centenary House in Crawley on Monday.

Representatives from Butlins, South East Coast Ambulance service (Secamb), East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and James’s local GP service at Martins Oak Surgery in Battle also attended.

Assistant coroner Karen Harrold said she was concerned that a family resort did not seem to have the means to deal with an emergency.

She said: “I have issues around the equipment available and the training of staff on site.

“It’s a family resort where there are both the old and young so this should be in place.”

Delay

Ms Harrold said she was concerned when the paramedics arrived they may not have been passed instructions as to how to get into the area of the site where James was choking.

She said: “Given James was two and choking it seems to me that every second counted.

“I am concerned about the delay in getting cars through the gates.”

One paramedic made “his own decision to run” without instruction to James because the ambulance was stuck, the inquest heard.

Ms Harrold said: “There should have been a clear path through. There should not have been any delay at all.

“When paramedics arrived they reported seeing that ‘safety staff were standing around doing nothing’.”

Ms Reeves said she was horrified at the lack of help from staff on the resort.

She said there were no trained staff to help with first aid and she had to rely on bystanders to help.

James had been known to suffer from choking and breathing issues prior to the incident due to being heavily congested, the inquest heard.

His mother said there had been a lack of urgency shown from doctors in the past about James choking and wanted to know what happened in a four-month period between a doctor at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust referring James to Brighton for an operation.

She said: “It was me having to go into hospital and bang on doctors doors.”

Ms Harrold said: “I am interested in looking at the standard of care at St Richard’s Hospital.

“I am concerned about the handling of communication by Secamb and the Butlins security arrangements and issues about getting vehicles through the gates and past the bollards.

“And the fact there were Butlin’s staff standing around doing nothing.”

The inquest has been adjourned for another six to eight weeks while representatives attending today gather

information to assist with the case.