No money to get ambulances to patients on time, bosses admit (From Bucks Free Press)

No money to get ambulances to patients on time, bosses admit

9:00am Wednesday 25th November 2009 in Health By Oliver Evans

No money to get ambulances to patients on time, bosses admit

HEALTH bosses have said they do not have the cash to get the “absolutely rubbish” ambulance services to non life-threatening calls on time.

An NHS Buckinghamshire boss said the authority did not have the £250,000 to £350,000 requested by ambulance chiefs.

This led a health boss to warn waiting times are a “big, big risk” to safety.

Latest figures show 93.3 per cent of these “category B” calls were reached in 19 minutes.

The target is 95 per cent. The figures mean patients could have been waiting far longer than 19 minutes with agonising conditions such as a broken arm.

The NHSB’s director of commissioning, Colin Thompson, said yesterday he was “not in a position” to hand over the cash.

“We continue to be heading towards what will be a challenging contract,” he said.

The cash-strapped authority has for some time raised concerns about how quickly South Central Ambulance Service gets to life-threatening “category A” calls.

This was 65.6 per cent in eight minutes - the national target is 75 per cent. SCAS bosses say Bucks’s rural nature makes hitting the target difficult.

They must get to 95 per cent of these urgent calls within 19 minutes – and SCAS exceeded this with 96 per cent in October.

Non-urgent calls over swine flu were hitting overall waiting times, the NHSB board was told yesterday.

Murray Fraser, one of it’s non-executive directors, said the waiting times were a “big big risk to the community”.

He called for a “rigorous and vigorous approach to get the ambulance service up and working”.

Fellow non-exec David Lunn said regional NHS chiefs should say to SCAS: “You are absolutely rubbish in Buckinghamshire, get a grip.”

The NHSB, officially known as Buckinghamshire NHS Primary Care Trust, was the only authority of its kind to end last year in debt.

Auditors last month named it as the worst in England for financial management. It is £1.4m in debt so far this year but has pledged to break even.