Sussex ambulance cuts puts pressure on staff

CHANGES to overnight ambulance cover in Sussex may be good for “beating the clock” but not for staff, according to one union.

CHANGES to overnight ambulance cover in Sussex may be good for “beating the clock” but not for staff, according to one union.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb) is currently undertaking a review of the number of ambulances and response cars available at different times of day.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Proposals include increasing the total number of emergency vehicles available overnight in Sussex from 41 to 43. However, the number of ambulances available in the early hours of the morning could reduce.

Jonathan Fox, spokesman for the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, said replacing ambulances with response cars would put added pressure on sole responders.

“It means a lot of the time they are going to be on their own for a lot longer,” said Mr Fox, who has been in the ambulance service for 30 years.

“When you’re sending responders out to calls where they don’t need the back-up that is one thing. But when you are sending them arbitrarily with nothing to back them up, that is another matter.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A SEACamb spokeswoman said: “The aim of the review is to ensure that we have the right number of resources to meet the demand that is placed upon us.

“Technology has allowed us to forecast with greater accuracy when and where are patients will need our services.

“It is showing us that we need more ambulances available to respond to patients during the day and fewer in some areas during the early hours of the morning.”

She said the data also showed around 30 per cent of patients at night were not taken to hospital.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This meant paramedic practitioners in response cars were better suited to deal with some of the overnight emergencies.

However, Mr Fox said, because response cars are not equipped to transport patients, if someone required hospitalisation they could end up waiting longer for an ambulance to arrive.

Related topics: