Patients ‘Are Not Being Reached Fast Enough’

Lives are being put at risk by missed ambulance response times, according to new figures.

Lincolnshire ambulances have met their target of reaching 75 per cent of county patients within eight minutes just once since April.

For 13 out of 14 weeks of the new 2008/09 financial year county lives were threatened with ambulances not meeting the Government target.

In contrast, East Midlands Ambulance Service, which provides the service has easily met target times for the rest of the region, which includes Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

A county paramedic, who refused to be named, said staff were demoralised by problems in the service.

“I love my job but the way it’s managed is diabolical,” he said.

“There are so many grievances going on in the county and people are afraid to speak out which is why I won’t be named. Emas doesn’t care about staff or patients. It cares about reaching target times and we’re not even doing that.”

He added that high rates of staff sickness and a block on overtime meant that the service was having to rely on solo responders rather than ambulance crews to attend an incident as there are not enough staff to make up a crew in a desperate attempt to hit target times.

Lincolnshire also has the benefit of the volunteer network Lives, which has more than 80 trained life-savers in the county.

People who dial 999 often get a volunteer responder, but the Lives calls still contribute to Lincolnshire’s response times, as their clock officially stops ticking when either a volunteer or a paramedic arrives at the scene.

A spokesman for Lives, Steve Hyde, said in the rural areas the teams regularly reach a 999 call before a paramedic.

“Our average is response time is four minutes and 40 seconds from receiving a 999 call,” said Mr Hyde

“We are recruiting more and more volunteers.

“But then more people are ringing 999 as that’s what NHS Direct often advise.

“It’s hard for the ambulance service as if they reach a patient in eight minutes and two seconds then they have deemed to fail.”

A spokesman for Lincolnshire PCT said: “As commissioners in Lincolnshire, we closely monitor the performance of East Midlands Ambulance Service in the county.

“We have invested substantially in the service and expect to see more staff and improved performance against the new national standards.”

Spokesman for Emas, Phil Morris, refused to comment on the situation in the Echo circulation area.

(c) 2008 Lincolnshire Echo. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.