Thousands who dial 999 are sent minicabs instead of ambulances

AMBULANCE trusts are sending minicabs to take patients with potentially life-threatening conditions to hospital, a shocking report claims.

thousands of patients who have dialled 999 have been presented with a taxi – and usually with no trained paramedics or equipment on board.

An investigation by Channel 4 news found that the London Ambulance Service trust sent taxis to 6,300 patients who called the emergency number in the six months to February this year.

the Yorkshire Ambulance Service used 2,139 taxis in the past year, including for some ‘Red 2’ calls, potentially life-threatening cases, requiring a response within eight minutes.

north east Ambulance Service called 1,963 taxis out in the past year. the trusts say they ascertain on the phone whether a patient is in need of a blue light ambulance with paramedics on board. One patient suffering an ectopic pregnancy was taken to hospital in a taxi, and ten cases of people who had taken a drug overdose, across several ambulance trusts, the programme reports tonight.

eight of the 11 ambulance trusts in england and Wales used taxis in the last year, and five trusts used them at least 100 times, according to figures obtained under Freedom of information laws.

Although the costs of deploying private taxis are not known, it is likely to add hundreds of thousands of pounds to individual trusts’ balance sheets.

Kathryn murphy, of the Patients Association, said: ‘the thing that concerns me is that just because the service is under pressure doesn’t mean that you should compromise the safety of patients.’

Ambulance trusts are also experiencing a severe shortage of paramedics to man ambulances, with thousands of job vacancies. Some trusts have been forced to send bosses overseas to recruit new staff.

Last year a separate investigation found that spending on private ambulances run by commercial firms had doubled in three years from £24million to £56million.

the College of emergency medicine warned that the rise in private ambulances was ‘potentially dangerous’ as many were staffed by technicians with a few weeks training, rather than paramedics.

London Ambulance Service said the type of conditions for which taxis are used were trauma injuries without serious bleeding, such as cuts and bruises or abdominal pains.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service provided an explanation for each taxi sent to a Red 2 call and said that taxis were deployed to less than 1 per cent of 999 calls. ÷Watch the Channel 4 news report tonight at 7pm.