NHS East of England ambulances takes up to 20 hours to reach some non-critical patients, staff say
Unison said ambulance staff were being "battered" and "put through the wringer", while the trust said it was under the worst pressure in years
Trust chief executive Tom Abell said: "We are currently experiencing some of the most significant and sustained pressures in recent years."An East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust spokesman confirmed that it had a protocol called Emergency Operations Centre Standard Operating Procedure 48 where a temporary suspension of sending ambulances to category 3 and category 4 calls is brought in.
One worker said: "Staff constantly call back patients who are [waiting]... and tell them their injuries don't require any ambulance attendance or they should make their own way to hospital because of the delays, just to reduce call volume to a non-critical level." According to them "people are using us as a taxi service. Everything is 'call an ambulance'. That's the problem. Pressures on the service are phenomenal".One employee was also critical of NHS 111 providers and GP surgeries, who, in their view, were taking up ambulance resources unnecessarily.
Dr Rab McEwan, its chief operating officer, said: "IC24 supports the East of England Ambulance Service Trust at these times of unprecedented pressures on paramedic services across the country, and we would urge all members of the public to use the full range of alternative non-emergency services other than 999, including our 111 service."
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