Posted on 01/16/2015 10:51:32 PM PST by Olog-hai
Ambulances will be allowed to take longer to reach seriously ill patients, under controversial plans announced by the Health Secretary.
Jeremy Hunt yesterday unveiled a pilot scheme that will give operators an extra two minutes to assess 999 calls before dispatching paramedics. He said the added time will enable staff to establish if an ambulance is really needed, over concerns they are being sent out too readily to patients who are not seriously ill.
But unions warned that the move would cost lives and dismissed the scheme as a ploy to meet targets ahead of the election.
The ambulance service is under severe pressure, and for the past nine months has persistently missed the target of responding to life-threatening calls within eight minutes. This week, operators at East of England and Yorkshire ambulance trusts were accused of downgrading calls in a ploy to make response times look quicker.
The Government had previously denied reports it had been considering extending the waiting times for some serious calls from eight minutes to 19. …
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