By EMS1 Staff
EASTBOURNE, England — An ambulance service has been accused of endangering patients’ lives by having critical-care paramedics respond to non-urgent calls.
The Guardian reported that a leaked memo from South East Cost Ambulance Service shows its critical-care paramedics are dealing with minor ailments because ambulances are taking too long to reach patients.
The service’s acting chief executive admitted the move would cause “some anxiety and uncertainty” in the memo. Unions representing the crews said the changes are “short-sighted, risky and not right.”
“There is always a possibility that in the case of a very serious incident such as a road traffic collision or cardiac arrest, where (critical-care paramedics) are crucial, they won’t be available,” Nigel Sweet, a Unison steward for Secamb, said. “Instead they will be responding to a standard callout. That could threaten that patient in that situation. That’s the concern.”
The change came into effect Dec. 21 and will continue until the end of March.
“We have little evidence at this stage to know whether (critical-care paramedics) being in the plan or out of the plan will be more or less beneficial to our patients, which is why it was felt prudent, given the challenges the trust is facing and our shortage of paramedics, to look at this,” a Secamb spokeswoman said.
Richard Webber, Secamb’s strategic incident commander, said the service is struggling to cope with a 10 percent year-on-year rise in the number of emergency calls. The service also has 138 vacancies for paramedics — up from 105 last year.