Delays and failures in treating a teenage girl at a Dreamland gig who became ill and died after taking MDMA did not contribute to her death, a coroner has found.

Emily Stokes, 17, suffered a cardiac arrest at QEQM Hospital in Margate after attending a drum and bass concert at the theme park on June 29, where she took the Class A drug.

Coroner Catherine Wood said today that medical staff at the concert, attended by about 7,000 people, did not have sufficient training to recognise how critically ill the teenager was, or deal with the side effects of drugs use.

At the end of three-day inquest Ms Wood also said there should have been a pre-alert issued to QEQM, to let them know the private ambulance hired for the gig was on their way with Emily.

However, she couldn’t say that such failures contributed to the 17-year-old’s death, and ruled it was drugs-related.

This came after three days of hearing evidence from medical staff at Dreamland, the ambulance crew, hospital workers, police and the operations director of the theme park

Ms Wood said: “I find there were delays, but I don't have cause to say they should form part of my conclusion.

“Looking at failures, even if there were potential failures, I can only attribute factors if they are causative.

“I can’t say on the balance of probabilities that any of these alleged failings did cause or contribute to Emily’s death.”

Integrated Medical Services (IMS) staff had been contracted for the event, and IMS had in turn hired Kent Central Ambulance Service (KCAS).

The coroner also said there were not sufficient facilities in the IMS medical tent to cool down Emily, who had an extremely high temperature of 40.9, a heart rate of 200bpm and appeared agitated and delirious.

Yesterday, the inquest heard from an emergency medicine consultant at QEQM, Andrew Mortimer, who said treatment for such symptoms should include stripping and cooling down with water and fans, which did not happen when Emily was taken to the medical tent, after she was spotted slumped on the floor.

IMS staff did however give her water, but this would not have been enough to bring such a high temperature down. They did not strip Emily to preserve her dignity, the inquest heard. They also attempted an ECG, which monitors electical signals from the heart, but the electrodes kept slipping off because Emily was sweating so much.

Ms Wood said: “I consider that IMS did not have the appropriate facilities to allow for cooling and that staff were not trained to cope with those who had drug-use side effects.

“I also find that staff did not have the training and skills to recognise just how critically unwell Emily was.

“Having heard all the evidence, I find this was a drug-related death.”

Ms Wood added “there is no doubt” there should have been a pre-alert.

She said: “Had that been made, then they would have had things ready for Emily at the hospital and may have been able to intubate her earlier.”

Earlier in the inquest, there were differing accounts given on whose responsibility it was on the day to decide on issuing the pre-alert.

Managing director of IMS, Chris Young, said ultimately it’s down to the ambulance crew, while a KCAS staff member said they had to obtain permission from the clinician who ordered the transfer.

DS Andrew West attended QEQM after the tragedy and was the final witness to give evidence today before the ruling.

He confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Emily’s death, and said one yellow pill in a bag was found in her possession.

He added: “The lab result for this only contained MDMA - no fentanyl.”

On the first day of the inquest, Sam Noble from Mancha Security - the firm hired by Dreamland - said he was aware of a “batch of MDMA laced with fentanyl” which had been causing deaths in the area.

Toxicology also showed that Emily had none of the synthetic drug in her system.

Her father, John Stokes, also spoke and said he believed medical staff at the venue did not have enough training.

The court heard in detail about the medical facilities available at Dreamland, Emily’s transfer to the hospital, and what happened when she got there.

Evidence was given by Daniel Peddle, who was one of the KCAS crew members who took Emily to the QEQM.

He, along with the driver of the truck, Rachel Clifton, both had a training level of First Response Emergency Care (FREC) level 4.

Neither had dealt with a patient suffering from an MDMA overdose before, or had professional knowledge of how to treat it.

The staff only had the facilities for “immediate life support such as airway management and CPR”, and are usually tasked with transferring patients from hospital to hospital, the inquest heard.

Similarly, at the Dreamland medical tent, there were no facilities to give a patient IV fluids.

On Tuesday, the court heard evidence from Shane Guy, the operations director of Dreamland.

He said 82 people were found with drugs at the event, “probably all” during the queue search, but noted this was a number he’d expect for an event of this nature, and they were not overwhelmed.

However, a medical worker hired for the event later told the inquest there were “a lot of drug users”, and described the day as “manic” at the start.

Some 22 teenagers were admitted to QEQM that day after taking drugs at the gig.

A major incident was declared after Emily’s death, but it was decided that the concert should continue, rather than having "7,000 unhappy people in the streets of Margate”, Mr Guy said.

Emily was searched upon entry, but no drugs were found on her.

Emily was in care, and her former social worker also spoke and described the teenager as a “remarkable young lady”.

Kay Mockford told the inquest, held at Oakwood House, in Maidstone: “She was a very quirky young lady - never had the same hair colour every time I saw her.

“She was so artistic and a fantastic baker. She was very funny and clever as well.