By Alan Jones
Press Association Mediapoint
LONDON — The Government is preparing to scrap one of the targets for the time ambulances respond to calls in England, sources claimed today.
Union leaders said they were “shocked” after hearing that an announcement will be made tomorrow removing the 19-minute target for attending less serious cases.
It is understood that ministers are preparing to say that ambulances will only have to meet an eight-minute target for the most serious cases.
Justin Bowden, the GMB union’s national officer for the ambulance service, said: “This is an absolute disgrace. It opens the way for cuts in the service.
“When people dial 999 for medical help they should have some guarantees they will get it. Scrapping the 19-minute target means that the ambulance service will now become like the police service and people will just have to wait until they turn up, if they turn up at all.
“GMB members would like to know why the Liberal Democrat party is doing nothing to stop the Tories dismantling our public services.”
The GMB said it feared that scrapping response targets was the “thin end of the wedge” which will lead to a deterioration of the health service.
Mr Bowden added: “The only way that the annual 13 million emergency calls and urgent patients’ journeys can be responded to in time by ambulance staff and paramedics is with proper planning and enough resources that are well managed and efficiently deployed to meet proper targets supported by the public.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We will shortly announce plans to toughen up standards in ambulance responses, especially for the most critical cases. We have been clear that only targets that get in the way of improving care will be abolished. There will be no let up in our drive to improve patient safety, outcomes and patient experience.”
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