Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

Revealed: The hidden crisis in Britain’s ambulance services

Paramedics are fleeing. Needless callouts are mounting. When will the government notice?

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[/audioplayer]Last month I wrote about the weird exodus of paramedics from London’s ambulance service. Flies would blanch at the rate they’re dropping, and so I was curious — and also anxious. Everyone who lives in this heaving city relies upon 999, and 999 relies upon paramedics.

The official reason, given to me by Mr Jason Killens, the tough-sounding director of operations at the London Ambulance Service (LAS), was that they’re leaving because they’re underpaid. But as I wrote back then, I wasn’t convinced.

It turns out Mr Killens wasn’t quite convinced either, because since we spoke, the LAS have begun an internal inquiry into the matter — and as it happens, inadvertently, so have I. Over the past few weeks I’ve been swamped by emails and letters from desperately unhappy paramedics. I’ve spoken to many of them; and can now present the results of my own inquiry. It might also (sad to say) be of interest to the other NHS ambulance trusts around the country — all nine of them from north to south, because it seems increasingly clear that London’s problems are echoed nationwide.

First you need to understand that London’s 999 service is on the very edge of melting down. The number of calls has risen dramatically and ambulances are sent willy-nilly to all manner of pointless non-emergencies. There are supposed to be systems in place that sort the hypochondriacs from the heart attacks, but for one reason or another they are all inadequate. The operators at 111, for instance, are untrained and risk-averse, so they send ambulances to the slightest sniffle. For a 999 operator, the words ‘chest pain’ or ‘difficulty breathing’ automatically mean an ambulance, though it’s often just a panic attack on the line. The service is so stretched that ambulance crews no longer return to their stations to recover between emergencies, but must circle the city all shift long and often do overtime.

So it’s hard, gruelling work, but this in itself isn’t why paramedics are dropping out, nor is it the fault of the ambulance service.

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