Channel 4 News
A Channel 4 News and Firecrest Films investigation has found that there has been a surge in the use of private ambulances in parts of the country crewed by staff who may have as little as five days’ medical training, writes Victoria Macdonald. And in both private and NHS ambulances, they are turning up at 999 calls without a paramedic on board.
We have been told of occasions when patients in agony have been left without morphine because the crew who had attended the 999 call were not qualified to administer the drug. In another instance, we learned of an ambulance traveling without a paramedic that had to stop and wait for help after a patient’s heart rate dropped to a dangerous level.
The most tragic case, however, was that of Carole Stevens. Mrs Stevens, who had multiple sclerosis, had been visiting her family in Kent last October when she fell out of her wheelchair.
Read full story: Surge in A&E demand forces rise in private ambulances