Merseyside's ambulances sit empty without enough staff

Oct 7 2009 by Liza Williams, Birkenhead News

MERSEYSIDE’S ambulances are sitting empty – because there is not enough staff to man them.

The region’s ambulance service cannot cover all its rostered shifts and is failing to get to patients quickly enough.

Union reps claim the service has been down by as many as 21 ambulances at a time in Merseyside and Cheshire.

They say staff are stressed and fearful about the winter months, as an expected new phase of the swine flu pandemic approaches.

Across the whole of North West Ambulance Service, which provides all of Merseyside’s ambulance provision, there are 120 A&E crew vacancies and it is expected they won’t be filled until January. Staff are working overtime to cover shifts, but it is not enough to fill the gaps.

The Trust says it is facing “significant challenges” because of the vacancies, a rise in 999 calls and training commitments. At the moment 400 frontline staff are being recruited and trained to solve the problem.

Merseyside’s regional organiser for the Ambulance Service Union (ASU), Ray Carrick, said: “It is causing a lot of concern. Paramedics are stressed because there isn’t enough of them and workers in Liverpool’s control room are very concerned as well.