NHS spends £80 million a year on private ambulances

The NHS spends almost £80 million a year hiring private ambulances to answer emergency services calls and take patients to hospital for appointments, new data shows.

England’s 10 NHS ambulance trusts were forced to spend £78.4 million in 2016-17 on help from non-NHS providers to supplement their own services due to widespread shortages of paramedics and rising demand.

According to data obtained by the Press Association under freedom of information laws, that was down from the £79.7 million trusts spent in 2015-16, but 22 per cent more than their £64.2 million outlay in 2014-15.

South Central ambulance service spent the most on private services last year: £16.3 million, up from its £13.6 million outlay the year before and £12.3 million in 2014.15.

A spokesman for the Independent Ambulance Association (IAA) said the main reasons for the rise were staff shortages combined with continued increases in demand.

The figures sparked concerns that ambulances supplied by profit-driven firms may provide a lower standard of care than that provided by crews employed by the NHS.

However, the IAA insisted that the standard of care was not different to that offered by the NHS, and that all providers are registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Jonathan Street, College of Paramedics, said: “These services are increasingly reliant on paramedics and other ambulance clinicians within the private sector to meet the demand, which involves considerable cost.”

Alan Lofthouse, Unison’s national ambulance officer, said: “The huge sums spent on private ambulance services expose the pressures on staff due to soaring demand. Experienced and highly trained employees are leaving because of the strain.

“Paying agency workers to fill the gaps is putting patient safety and the wellbeing of crews at risk.”

Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “It is concerning that trusts are having to use part of their budget for private ambulances, and serves to highlight the current levels of demand emergency departments are facing.

“The Care Quality Commission has previously highlighted that they may use less qualified staff or staff whose qualifications aren’t regulated or restricted. They may be poorly equipped, have poor clinical governance, poor infection prevention, and a lack of or inappropriate equipment.”