Full story in The Guardian, 16 September 2018
A struggling ambulance trust hopes to improve response times by sending ambulances already occupied by patients to new emergencies, it has emerged.
The East of England ambulance services trust, which has some of the worst emergency response times of any ambulance trust in England, has defended the new policy is “absolutely right” in rare circumstances.
But staff and MPs described the trust’s policy of diverting ambulances with a stable patient inside to attend life-threatening calls as “crazy” and “dangerous”, warning first responders could be forced to choose between the welfare of different patients.
The policy was adopted by the trust, which serves Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, last month as part of efforts to improve response times to category one calls, which relate to life-threatening injuries or illnesses.