Ambulance trust asks staff to work for FREE: Anger erupts over volunteer plan

Paramedics have been asked to treat patients free of charge in their spare time during the NHS ambulance emergency.

The controversial plan announced by the East of England Ambulance Service is entirely voluntary.

You’ll see doctors rushing to the most seriously ill 999 call sites in their area.

Ambulance personnel described the move as “the final nail in the coffin of personnel morale” and a “desperate attempt” to increase “weak” response times.

“Asking overworked staff to do extra work for free is not the solution,” the unions said.

But the EEAS says it’s the medics themselves who came up with the volunteer plan, and it will save lives by treating patients faster.

It comes in the midst of a growing ambulance crisis, with waiting times reaching record levels.

Ambulances queued outside the emergency room for up to 20 hours for a space inside, which knocked down response times.

In fact, heart attack and stroke patients have been told to wait a few hours before being admitted.

Heart attack patients averaged more than 50 minutes for an ambulance in England last month, almost three times the NHS target. There were over 300,000 category two reports in June

In a post announcing the “Volunteer Assistance Program” on its website, EEAS said local paramedics were set up to support “early intervention” in category 1 patients.

The first category calls come from patients with a life-threatening condition such as cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest. Response time will average seven minutes.

A maximum of 15 volunteer personnel, who must have at least an ambulance associate’s degree, will be equipped with the same medical equipment as the first responders.

A similar plan already exists, called community first responders, but is made up of the public.

The EEAS said: “We know it’s important to be able to respond quickly to our most critically ill patients, as it has been shown to support out-of-hospital survival and improve clinical outcomes for these patients.”

Volunteers will initially work in two locations: Norfolk and Waveney and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Within six months, the EEAS will evaluate the volunteers’ performance and evaluate next steps.

But paramedics warn that the plan will further dampen the morale of “exhausted” staff.

An anonymous paramedic speaking to the BBC said: “This is just a nail in the coffin of staff morale.

“We run every shift nonstop, coupled with calls waiting for more than 10 hours for a response, unprecedented delays for evacuation in all major hospitals, and daily delays that turn 12-hour shifts into anything between 13 and 15. ” Now.

‘The Foundation wants us to become more members and to do so on a voluntary basis.

“What I’m talking about above is definitely not for me or the vast majority of my colleagues.”

Another paramedic said the deal “seems like another desperate attempt to increase the trust’s dire response times.”

They added: “It looks good, but it won’t be really effective. Why would tired employees make phone calls when you’re on a 12-hour shift?’

NHS data shows the trust has one of the worst response times in the country.

The EEAS took an average of 10 minutes and 15 seconds to respond to Category 1 calls in June, and only two of the 11 UK ambulance services were slower.

Meanwhile, category two calls such as burns, epilepsy, heart attacks, and strokes took an average of 56 minutes and 48 seconds to answer, compared to the 18-minute target.

Nine out of ten category three calls should appear within two hours, including late stages of labor, minor burns, and diabetes. But nine out of ten patients had to wait six hours 57 minutes 53 seconds for the EEAS doctors to arrive.

Glenn Carrington, head of Unison EEAS department, said the ambulance service is under “enormous pressure” due to the “huge” response to the emergency.

“There is no doubt that urgent action is needed, but asking overworked staff to do extra work for free is not the solution.

Ambulance personnel do extremely stressful and tiring work. We should take our days to rest and recover, rather than running around and sitting on the phone for the next emergency.’

An EEAS spokesperson said: ‘The idea for this program came from our staff because they wanted us to give them the opportunity to donate their free time to support more patients.

“This is an all-volunteer initiative that allows experienced doctors with local knowledge to respond quickly to emergencies in areas they know.

“Fast response times have been shown to help improve hospital survival rates, and this is another way to reach patients who need our help.

“After successful trials in other parts of the country, we are delighted to present this program and would like to thank our dedicated staff for taking the lead in delivering this program.”