LONDON Ambulance Control Room workers are being offered bonuses of up to £250 if they can reduce by 30 per cent the number of ambulances they send out following 999 calls.
They are being urged to fob off callers onto another service such as a GP or NHS Direct.
London Ambulance Service is giving out the cash in an attempt to hit national targets for response times.
In November, London Ambulance Service failed to meet national targets for response times on the most urgent calls.
These targets state that 75 per cent of ambulances for ‘Red 1’ calls, covering instances like cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse, should arrive within eight minutes.
In London, 74 per cent arrived within this time.
The service also missed the target for ‘Red 2’ calls, covering incidents like strokes and fits.
In this category, 73.5 per cent of London ambulances arrived within eight minutes.
A paramedic, who asked not to be named, said: ‘Bonuses mean staff might be tempted to divert a genuine caller. We shouldn’t be rewarding people for not sending out ambulances.
‘This is really worrying. People join the service to help the sick, not to profit from not sending an ambulance. There could be a temptation not to send a 999 ambulance to get the cash.’
A spokesman for London Ambulance Service said control room staff would receive the bonus if they referred 30 per cent of callers to other health providers, such as out-of-hours GPs, NHS Direct or pharmacists.
Paul Woodrow, of London Ambulance Service, claimed the bonus scheme is being introduced because members of the public call 999 for trivial reasons.
He said: ‘To ensure ambulances are available for people who really need them, we provide advice over the phone to patients with minor conditions or refer them to other healthcare providers like their GP or NHS Direct.’
Meanwhile, London Mayor Johnson has announced that fire engines will no longer be automatically despatched following 999 fire callouts in future, but that red Mini Coopers will be the first response vehicles of choice.
The news follows last week’s announcement of the closure of 13 fire stations in London in cuts designed to save £100 million in two years.
The Mini Cooper cars will be deployed across the city’s fire stations to provide a ‘rapid first response’ said Johnson.
The Minis, which were trialled during the London Olympics, can carry six fire extinguishers and a medical kit including defibrillators.
