THE GREAT AMBULANCE BETRAYAL

Lives at risk as cars – NOT ambulances – are dispatched to hit target times

HEALTH chiefs stand accused of putting lives at risk by sending cars to 999 emergencies instead of ambulances.

The rapid response vehicles help bosses hit arrival time targets.

But the cars can carry to hospital only patients well enough to sit in the back seat. Despite this, East of England Ambulance Service used the cars for 42 per cent of its most serious call-outs in April. A year earlier the figure was just 31 per cent.

The situation is ‘perverse in the extreme’, according to Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk, which is covered by East of England.

‘It looks very much like the trust’s focus has been on hitting targets rather than maximising patient safety,’ he said. ‘Sending a car to an emergency where the patient needs an ambulance might satisfy the target, but it can badly delay the patient getting to hospital.’

A senior paramedic said: ‘The trust has become fixated with hitting the target by sending out cars to stop the clock. Care, patient safety and dignity are really being badly

compromised. Everyone has horror stories. It’s as bad as I can remember.’

Speaking to the Health Service Journal, which carried out the investigation, the unnamed paramedic said elderly patients were left lying on the ground, waiting up to two or three hours, for an ambulance to turn up.

He added: ‘Often they’re in pain, maybe with a broken hip. When it’s in the winter, it’s often in cold, frosty conditions. Sometimes they are lying on a limb, and who knows what damage is being done as a result.’

NHS bosses will today attempt to close the loophole that allows response cars to be counted as a ‘vehicle capable of conveying patients’.

Call handlers will be given more to time to assess 999 calls – and paramedics more time to respond.

The idea is to ensure managers send an ambulance only to those patients that really need one, even if it arrives slightly later. Currently the ambulance service has just eight minutes to reach the most serious calls.

There is concern that the targets are leading to managers gaming the system and putting patient care at risk.

As well as sending single driver cars, some trusts send ‘community first responders’ just to stop the clock. These can include members of the public with basic first aid.

Ambulance chiefs are struggling to cope with the soaring volume of 999 calls on top of a recruitment crisis.

A spokesman for the East of England said: ‘The trust does not put targets before safety, rather it prioritises its response to the sickest patients.

‘In addition, the trust has been reducing the rapid response vehicle hours it has been deploying since December

016. The trust continually monitors patient safety, responses to patients and any delays in getting patients to hospital. These form the basis of discussions around investing in additional ambulance capacity, something which is regularly discussed at board meetings.’

Sara Gorton of the union Unison said: ‘The response time recorded for 999 calls should be at the point a patient gets the treatment they need.’