First Aid News - April 2007

Paramedics Defend Service Following Criticisms on ITV Show
ITV show Tonight With Trevor McDonald criticised some ambulance services for sending out inadequately trained paramedics in emergencies. The programme was title "999 Lottery" and claimed that the ambulance service is in crisis and it is pot luck as to whether a paramedic is sent at all.

Government minister Andy Burnham explained that paramedics were only sent if the emergency warranted it and that the ambulance service had to prioritise its resources for the best efficiency. He denied that government targets were putting lives at risk.

Official statistics obtained under Freedom of Information rules show London as having the fewest paramedics per head compared to Wales with the most.

Great Western Ambulance Service came in for criticism because only 49% of the main ambulance staff are paramedic-trained. A GWAS union representative said that the TV programme had caused upset amongst their members. He said that they were doing a good job when attending the thousands of emergencies that arise every year. The associate director of operations for this trust said that plans are in place to raise the number of paramedics to 67% of the workforce.

In a separate news story, the union representing members of the North West Ambulance Service claimed that ambulances in their area were not being sent out with paramedics on board. In that region, paramedics travel around by car but often arrive after the ambulance. This leaves the patient at risk. Only 54% of NWAS staff are paramedics. A union spokesman says that the crisis is partly due to GPs not doing call-outs and members of the public calling ambulances instead thus putting a strain on the limited resources.