GPs concerned over ambulance delays, Pulse reports

Pulse has reported that GPs are becoming increasingly concerned over the risk of very young and elderly patients dying as a result of delays to 999 calls. Campaign group GP Survival has warned that underfunding of ambulance services ultimately led to delays in emergency calls, with some GPs having to drive patients to the hospital themselves.

The latest figures show performance statistics for English ambulance trusts show worsening in response times, with 71.9 per cent of all ‘Red 1’ calls receiving a response within eight minutes in 2014/15 (the latest available figures), down from 75.6 per cent in 2013/14.

Rehana Azam, national secretary for GMB, the union representing ambulance service staff, said: ‘”Ambulance staff are doing their upmost best to respond to this demand but the government is turning the other way. These horrifying case studies are the direct result of years of chronic under-funding of the NHS and Ambulance Service.

“If we genuinely want a health service we can be proud of - one that provides free, quality care for people at their time of need - we need to fund it properly and invest in the people delivering the service. By Jeremy Hunt's own admission, the NHS faces painful and difficult economies in the near future, so the problem is only going to get worse.”

A GP Survival spokesperson said: “If the ambulance service was properly funded, these types of events would not happen. It is without doubt that patients from babies to the elderly are dying unnecessarily in cases like these.

“Ironically those GPs in the cases [above] who took the patient to hospital themselves because the ambulance did not arrive, could probably be successfully sued. But when patients like these are in front of you, it is the right thing to do to try and save their lives. Something is very wrong when this can happen.”

Responding to the claims, a Department of Health spokesperson said: “Patients deserve the highest standard of care at all times. We know services are under pressure but the NHS continues to perform well across the country, with ambulance services making over 3,400 more emergency journeys every day compared to 2010.

“We've employed 2,200 more paramedics since 2010, increased training places this year by 60 per cent to over 1,600, and invested £10 billion to fund the NHS's own plan for the future.”
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