By Sam Smith
The Brentwood Gazette
BRENTWOOD, England — Private ambulances are being used to plug gaps in emergency cover across Brentwood and Essex, it has been claimed.
The use of private ambulances is not uncommon across the country, but a paramedic working in Essex has claimed they are being used to attend serious emergencies when their medics lack the necessary training.
The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust makes use of eight private providers, such as Thames Ambulance and St John Ambulance, which assist NHS paramedics in their work.
Chest pains The trust claims they are not sent to emergency calls.
However, our source, who the Gazette has agreed not to name, claims they are being sent to attend life-threatening emergencies. The medic said: “They do get sent to emergencies to back up solo paramedics treating people with strokes and chest pains.
“They’re just for transport, but the problem is they have not got the same level of training as NHS medics, which means the solo paramedic has to go with them.”
Solo paramedics attend emergency call-outs in ambulance cars as they can respond quicker to calls. However, ambulances are needed to transport the patient.
Government cuts mean the trust is looking to make £50 million of savings over the next five years. It plans to cut two of Basildon’s three 24-hour vehicles to 16 hours a day, while both of Billericay and Wickford’s 24-hour ambulances will be cut to 16 hours a day.
Brentwood’s 24-hour ambulance is not affected, but shortages elsewhere, such as in Ongar, mean it may be called out further afield resulting in a lack of cover in Brentwood.
“If they are going to be taking the NHS ambulances off the road then I don’t see how they can do that when private ambulances are already being used to help with the calls,” said the source.
The trust said it was unable to say how many private ambulances it uses, as usage varies on a day-to-day basis. It also declined to say how much it spends on private contracts.
Our source added: “The service really is stretched now. Solo paramedics have been waiting five hours for an ambulance.
“I have been with people seriously ill, people asking me to get an ambulance. I have pleaded to control to send an ambulance and they tell me they’ve not got one available. “When you speak to ambulance people they are really worried. We have family in this area and we can say that these cuts are going to be dangerous.”
A spokesman for the trust said: “As with other ambulance services across the country we use fully accredited providers to complement existing crews as they have the flexibility necessary to support highly volatile demand patterns and the cost for this is worked in at budget setting.
Busy “During particularly busy periods, such resources help within our guidelines with urgent, but not emergency, work in order to release Trust crews to respond to life-threatening calls.
“This enables our crews to get to those patients who really need us faster.
“We will also use them during episodes of adverse weather, for example the snow that affected large parts of the eastern region last year, when they can assist with the Trust’s urgent demand and transportation of patients.”
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