Ambulance chief tells of increasing pressures
THE North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) says staff are “pulling out all the stops” to answer calls and attend incidents as fast as possible with the continuing heatwave putting the service at its highest alert level
Medical director Matthew Beattie apologised for the service not being able to answer calls or reach patients as quickly as it would like.
The total number of calls in recent days from those requiring an ambulance is about 80% up on what NEAS says were its busiest days pre-the covid pandemic.
Speaking about the latest picture, Mr Beattie said: “We’ve seen some significant pressure over the last few years and that hasn’t really eased.
The heat is yet another challenge adding to that pressure, with a significant number of patients becoming unwell with existing health problems who are struggling in the heat.
“On the worst day of the year precovid we normally see around 1,055 calls – we’re now regularly exceeding that number and, on some days, we’re seeing 1,900 calls.
Unfortunately this means we’re simply not able to answer our calls or reach our patients as quickly as we would like, and I would like to personally apologise for that.
“Please rest assured, all our staff are pulling out all the stops to answer calls and attend incidents as fast as we can, and I would like to thank them all for their continued efforts.”
NEAS, which serves a population of 2.7m people, has been repeatedly in the spotlight over recent months over concerns about its performance.
Each and every ambulance service across England is on the highest level of alert, with staff experiencing “extreme pressure”.
A cocktail of Covid absences among staff, difficulty as a result of the hot weather, and ongoing delays in patient handover to A&E has left ambulance trusts struggling to cope. The NEAS increased its alert level on Monday.
In May Teesside MPs from both sides of the political spectrum lined up to criticise the service in Parliament over claims it covered up details of deaths following mistakes by paramedics – something that is now being investigated, the Government having sanctioned a full independent review.
NEAS accepts that there were “historical failings” with its processes, but maintains these have been resolved.
Another matter being probed concerns the death of 62-year-old Peter Coates, from Dormanstown, near Redcar, who died in March 2019 after a power cut caused his oxygen machine to fail.
By the time assistance arrived 34 minutes later he was dead.
A report previously found that delays in getting care to him involved one ambulance being unable to get to him following difficulties opening an electronic gate, while another had stopped to refuel.