Struggling ambulance trust may get patients to SHARE vehicles to improve its response times under ‘crazy’ new policy
- The East of England ambulance trust looks after almost six million people
- The scandal-hit trust’s move has been branded ‘desperate’ and even a ‘mess’
- But the trust, rock bottom of the NHS performance statistics, defended it
A struggling ambulance trust may get patients to share vehicles in a bid to improve response times under a controversial new policy.
The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAT), which looks after almost six million people, is one of the slowest at responding to emergencies.
In a desperate attempt to improve its performance statistics and drag it off the bottom of the league table, it implemented the new policy last month.
However, the scandal-hit trust’s move has been branded ‘crazy’, ‘desperate’ and even a ‘mess’ by outraged politicians and senior staff.
But the trust defended it and said there are ‘rare situations’ where it is ‘absolutely right’ for crews already dealing with a patient to pick another up.
The East of England ambulance trust (EEAT), which looks after almost six million people, is one of the slowest at responding to emergencies
An anonymous senior paramedic at the trust told The Guardian he was ‘horrified’ when he learned of the policy, implemented in August.
He told the newspaper: ‘It’s desperate. I’ve never heard anything like this.’ The paramedic added it was unsafe for both patients and staff.
They also warned it leaves responders in a difficult circumstance if they have to choose between which patient receives care, as one may start off stable but suddenly take a turn for the worse.
Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, warned the move felt like ‘crisis management’ and argued chiefs haven’t thoroughly thought about it.
And Labour MEP for East of England, Alex Mayer, said ‘what a mess’, when asked to comment on the trust’s policy by journalists.
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The trust said: ‘There are rare situations where a crew who are transporting a clinically stable patient may be passing close by to a life threatening category one incident.’
It added: ‘In such rare circumstances, it is absolutely right that the crew are contacted to assess if it is clinically safe for the patient on board, if the crew were to stop at the incident and give immediate lifesaving care before the arrival of the next closest ambulance or car.’
HOW QUICK IS YOUR AMBULANCE SERVICE?
Official NHS guidance asks for calls considered category one to be answered within eight minutes.
The EEAT had an average response time of 8 minutes 10 seconds for those calls in August – the only major trust to breach the recommendations.
East Midlands: 7:34
East of England: 8:10
Isle of Wight*: 9:49
London: 6:45
North East: 6:09
North West: 7:53
South Central: 7:08
South East Coast: 7:32
South Western: 7:02
West Midlands: 6:40
Yorkshire: 7:03
Isle of Wight had only 111 incidents, compared to the thousands recorded for all the other trusts.
NHS Improvement, which oversees trusts, claimed the trust did not seek its approval of the plan in question.
A spokesperson added that the body will ‘continue to work closely’ with the trust to allow it to improve services for patients.
EEAT, which covers Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, has been embroiled in a series of scandals over the past few years.
Last month, it attracted fierce criticism for plans to get untrained volunteers and members of the military behind the wheel of ambulances.
The plan was put forward to plug driver shortages but angry members of staff warned it posed a huge risk to patient safety.
In January, it was revealed 40 patients in the East of England ambulance trust’s area had died or were seriously harmed because of vehicle delays.
And two years ago it was found the ambulance trust re-employed six senior managers – despite having already handed them nearly £1 million in redundancy payments.
Robert Morton stepped down as chief executive of the trust last month, telling staff it was ‘the right time to hand over’. He will quit before the end of the financial year.
NHS ambulance figures for August, the most recent month dataset, showed EEAT was the worst major performer for category one calls.
Official guidance asks for calls considered category one to be answered within eight minutes.
The EEAT had an average response time of 8 minutes 10 seconds for those calls – the only major trust to breach the recommendations.
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